HIJACKED BY TOBACCO
THE TRUE STORY OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND CIGARETTES
They try to make it seem like smoking cigarettes make a woman sexy and independent.
But in reality...
They exploit women for their own profit and greed.
For almost a century now, specific kinds of cigarettes have been marketed directly to women. Disgusting, right? What makes it even more evil is how tobacco marketing tries to link smoking with women's suffrage, civil equalities, and self-image. A deadly product being sold as a tool to get the right to vote? So wrong. But they did it. And now they are pushing cigarettes as a fashion accessory. So not sexy.
THE REALITY
Despite the industry's best efforts to dress up cigarettes for women, we all know that smoking causes cancer, heart disease, and a list of other medical problems. Heart disease is already the number one killer of women in the US and cigarettes make the risk for heart disease worse. Smoking has also been linked to increasingly a woman's chances to get breast cancer.
TORCHES OF FREEDOM
Women were actually paid to smoke cigarettes at public events, like the Easter Day Parade in NYC, to make smoking look like an acceptable thing for an "independent" woman to do.
Check out this clip from a documentary about the guy who led tobacco's manipulation of women in the 1920's.
YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY...
In the 1960's and 70's, the hijacking of the women's movement continued. Certain cigarette ads featured the slogan, "You've come a long way, baby," which is such a back-handed compliment. Acknowledging the progress women have made in society while still calling them "baby"? Who are these people?
DRESSED TO THE 9'S
Think this is all ancient history? Not so much. Even today, tobacco companies try to get women addicted, but now they use fashion and sex appeal to do so. Some brands dress their deadly product up in typically female colors, like purple and pink, giveaway fashion accessories, and even host fashion shows that try to link sexiness with smoking.
LEARN MORE
Torches of Freedom
Amos, Amanda, and Margaretha Haglund. "From Social Taboo to "Torch of Freedom": the Marketing of Cigarettes to Women ." Tobacco Control 9.1, p.83 (2000).
You've Come a Long Way, Baby...
Surgeon General. Report Highlights: Marketing Cigarettes to Women. 2001, via Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2001/highlights/marketing/
Dressed to the 9's
Elliot, Stuart. "A New Camel Brand is Dressed to the Nines." New York Times; Feb 15, 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/business/media/15adco.html
The Reality
Lloyd-Jones D, Adams R, Brown T,. et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2010 Update: A Report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcomittee.
Circulation. 2010; 121:e1-e170.
Smoking and Breast Cancer
Couch, F., Cerhan, J., et al. Cigarette Smoking Increases Risk for Breast Cancer in High-Risk Breast Cancer Families. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev April 2001 10; 327.