My column today is about the FDA's new gnarly cigarette warning labels, which are the norm in a few dozen countries and will be seen on cigarette packs here starting next year. Although there wasn't a place to put it in the column, I thought I'd share some of my favorite TV cigarette ads. The old ones are incredibly jarring to us today, not just because we're not used to seeing people hawk smokes on TV, but also because it shows the way advertising has changed. Let's take this classic, "More doctors smoke Camels":
It's kind of like a celebrity endorsement, but the relevant attribute of the endorser isn't fame, wealth, or attractiveness, it's authority. You can be like the man with the power to heal, the man everyone respects. And of course, if doctors smoke Camels, it must mean they're better for you. This was at a time when the danger of cigarettes was just starting to be understood. And here's legendary newsman Mike Wallace, explaining how Phillip Morris cigarettes not only prove America's rightful place as world hegemon, they also provide "a man's kind of mildness." How is that different from a woman's kind of mildness? Who knows:
Eventually, advertisers began to understand that what they were selling was an image of what kind of person you are if you use their product. In this Salem ad, it's all about youthfulness, joy, and also getting laid (only implied, of course):
Now that the new regulations are in place, 20 percent of the space on any print ad for cigarettes (and 50 percent of the pack itself) will have to be taken up with the FDA's photos of things like rotting teeth. Not quite as appetizing as that "air softened" Salem flavor, but it isn't easy being a smoker these days.
