Freedom and independence are recurring themes in tobacco promotion. The tobacco industry created and reinforced images of the smoker as the lone cowboy, the emancipated woman, the daredevil sportster. This theme is especially appealing to adolescents, who are reaching towards independence and looking for ways to project that image.
| The campaign is less about masculinity than about independence, self-reliance, and freedom from authority.
The cigarette brands most popular with kids are those whose images symbolize self-reliance. Citizens of Marlboro Country have no parents, teachers, brothers, bullies or bosses. They epitomize independence and stand in stark contrast to the real Wild West. There's not even a sheriff in Marlboro Country.
Richard Pollay:Editorial, Advertising and Cigarettes, ARHP, 1996
|
The tobacco industry's own research reports and internal documents show that the association between smoking and independence has been carefully manufactured and fine-tuned. In a 1982 internal strategy document, R. J. Reynolds-Macdonald Inc. described how it had positioned Export A to be the brand of choice for adolescent boys:
Very young starter smokers choose Export A because it provides them with an instant badge of masculinity, appeals to their rebellious nature and establishes their position amongst their peers . . . The Export imagery will dimensionalize (sic) the breed of men who are masculine, independent, adventurous and possess the qualities of natural leadership . . . Women are attracted to these men because of their youthful virility, independence and spirit of adventure.
Richard Pollay and Anne Lavack:
"The Targeting of Youths by Cigarette Marketers:
Archival Evidence on Trial,"
Advances in Consumer Research 20 (1993) |
Export A's closest rival is Players. Imperial Tobacco Limited (ITL), the makers of Players cigarettes, compared its imagery with that of Export A. Both brands are targeted to "starter males," and both use ads that feature strong, hardy young men. ITL's report, however, asserts that Players' images are more in tune with the subtleties of contemporary definitions of independence and masculinity.
|
Players Image of a Smoker |
vs. Export A Image of a Smoker |
|
Chooses to be alone
Masculine/softer man
Okay to show feelings
Can get along with women
Better job/steady worker
Adventurous, tries new things
Independent, strong-willed |
Being a loner
Macho/rugged
Can't show feelings
No women
Working class, blue collar
Daredevil
Doesn't care about society |
Table excerpted from ITL's 1985 report "Project Stereo." Reproduced in Pollay and Lavack, ibid.
| Player's modernized its image with ads associating the brand with recreational sports such as hang gliding, mountain climbing and wind surfing. Export A was left behind with a blue-collar truck driver image... it fails to capture the aspirations of the young.
"Export A Ads are Extremely Expert, Eh?" Filter Tips,
Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, 1998
|
The tobacco industry also deploys that cherished notion of freedom when defending itself against consumer groups. It claims that everyone should be "free" to choose to smoke, and "free" to smoke wherever they wish. The irony is that the "free smoker" is a blatant contradiction of terms:
The nicotine industry [portrays] public health advocates as anti-smoking fanatics who want to tell everyone what to do, and setting them against the courageous, independent, free-thinking smoker.
There's an extraordinary billion-dollar public relations campaign going on that wants you think that freedom comes in the shape of a cigarette. The truth, of course, is that smoking is a dangerous addiction, deliberately promoted by a callous industry that cares only for profit. If you smoke, you're not expressing your individuality - you're allowing yourself to be manipulated by a very powerful industry.
Jean Kilbourne in the video Pack of Lies (Foundation for Media Education)
What you see is the opposite of what you get. We see images of independence, not the reality of addiction. We see pictures of health, while the reality is too often disease and death.
Pollay, ibid, 1996
Cigarette companies also defend the democratic principle of freedom of expression, in the form of freedom to advertise their product. In fact, however, the same companies have been responsible for suppressing information in the media, by flexing their advertising muscle.
Tobacco manufacturers have long wielded the power to censor articles in newspapers and magazines. Now, with more people [in the U.S.] calling for a ban on cigarette ads, the manufacturers are in the ironic position of equating their products with freedom of expression.
Adbusters (Winter 1994) |
Reprinted with permission from Smoke-Free for Life, a smoking prevention curriculum supplement from the Nova Scotia Department of Health, Drug Dependency and Tobacco Control Unit, 1996. Adapted and updated, 2002.
