Cool and Glamour – the Cigarette Characteristics
In the past, cigarettes were more respected than today. Today they are considered the main cause of people’s deaths. For example in1950s America cigarette smoking was the abstract of Cool and Glamour.
Even screen beauties such as Audrey Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich made smoking look sensual and sophisticated. By the late 1950s around half of the population of industrialized nations smoked. Then the tobacco product was cheap, legal and socially acceptable.
Cigarettes were originally sold as expensive handmade luxury goods for the urban elite. It was not until mass-production methods coupled with aggressive marketing that the industry began to see off traditional pipe-smoking and tobacco-chewing habits, particularly in the United States.
In the past the most famous American Tobacco Firm was Philip Morris. The most important message of this company was this “For man’s flavor come to Marlboro Country.”
Other brands also sought to lessen fears of smoking. For example, Camel cigarette famously ran an advert saying: “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette”.
Still, for years, the tobacco industry appeared to be unconquerable. Then, in 1994, Diane Castano, whose husband died of lung cancer, sued the Tobacco Industry.
After that case Health Organizations started to protect non-smokers from being exposed to secondhand smoking. This led to the 1995 ban on smoking in most enclosed places of employment. By 2005 less than a quarter of the US population smoked cigarettes, and that is now falling.
Although the behaviors and attitudes of family and friends are the main influences on adolescent decisions to use tobacco, the media—films, television, and the Internet— also influence these decisions. And most tobacco use took place in enclosed areas, usually around nonsmokers.
