Brandon Falk
Semiotics Final
CLST 201
All advertisements strive to appeal to their target audience, and cigarette
advertisements are no different. In particular, cigarette advertisements from the 1940’s
and ‘50’s portray the users of their product as admirable, successful and attractive
citizens to imply that admirable people smoke cigarettes, enticing the general public to do
the same to emulate those that they idolize. I chose to focus on the ads from the mid
1900’s because at that time, it was not illegal for cigarette companies to freely advertise
as it is now. Using access to the public eye that they had at that time, the companies
exploited the usage of cigarettes by particularly upstanding members of society to suggest
that if they do it, it must be okay. The common issue with these ads is that they often
exhibit inconsistencies like gender bias, markedness, and brand personality development
to more effectively market their product, excluding the many detrimental health effects.
The first advertisement I came across portrays 3 soldiers (one from each the army,
the marines, and the navy) smiling proudly in their respective uniforms, Camel cigarettes
dangling from their lips. They each have a speech bubble voicing their support for Camel
cigarettes, reading exclamations such as, “Give me Camels every time. They’re the first
with men in the army,” and “With the Marines, Camels are the favorite.” R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company realized that soldiers are highly respected and regarded as heroes in
America, and took advantage of that admiration by showing soldiers using their product.
The depiction of Camel cigarettes as the choice of strong, brave men appeals to the
people of America, who naturally idolize them and strive to emulate them. This
exemplifies the brand personality development theory, which states that products take on
certain attributes or “personalities” that render them easier for people to relate to on an
individual basis. The cigarettes take on the personality of the strong, brave men of the
army, marines and navy, enticing the general public that wants to be associated with
those qualities.
The advertisement also shows gender bias, targeting only men in the
advertisement and excluding women completely. However, the fact that the protectors of
our country are respected by all of America makes the ad flexible, appealing to the rest of
the country as well. Markedness is applicable to this example as well, as the Camel
cigarettes go from being a marked generalized habit to one expected of men of the army,
navy and marines. The caption under the men reads, “Send them the cigarette they ask
for,” which suggests that if the reader wants to support their country and the men fighting
for it, they should purchase Camel.
The second advertisement I chose is one from Marlboro, which depicts a strong,
stern-looking man smoking a Marlboro cigarette. The photo employs gender bias, as it
applies only to men and suggests that if you are a “real” man, you smoke Marlboro. The
advertisement associates men with cigarettes, giving the reader the idea that smoking
Marlboro is a representative behavior of men. The caption below the photo describes the
Marlboro cigarettes as giving the customer “the man-size flavor of honest tobacco
without huffing and puffing.” This caption is a perfect example of brand personality
development, as it markets the product as “man-sized,” which appeals to men that will
associate the big flavor with their own manliness.
The third advertisement I came across is one from the Lucky Strike cigarette
company. It depicts two attractive, strong, honest-looking men happily smoking their
Lucky Strikes, laughing and bonding. This appeals to men, who can relate to the male
bonding experience depicted in the picture and will associate that experience with Lucky
Strike cigarettes, glorifying the use of that product. Gender bias is employed, as two men
are shown enjoying the product. The caption below the photo reads, “Get the honest taste
of a Lucky Strike,” which uses brand personality development to infer that Lucky Strike
cigarettes have the characteristic of genuineness and honesty. These are admirable traits
that attract the general public, which naturally strive to be honest and genuine.
The fourth advertisement is that of Tipalet brand cigarettes, and is a very sexually
suggestive and seductive ad, immediately drawing the reader’s attention. It shows a savvy
man holding the product and blowing his smoke into the face of a beautiful, seductivelooking woman. The woman looks to be enjoying this thoroughly, seemingly infatuated
with the man. This employs gender bias because the man is portrayed as the dominant
figure, while the woman is portrayed as being under the control of the man. Men will be
attracted to the product because of this, inferring that if they use the product, women will
instantly be attracted to them. The caption below reads, “Blow in here face and she’ll
follow you anywhere,” which further reinforces the gender bias that suggests to men that
they will be seen as savvy and attractive by women if they smoke Tipalet brand. Brand
personality development is also applicable to this advertisement because it depicts the
product as seductive, an attribute that any man wants to embody.
The final advertisement is a Fatima cigarette advertisement depicting a good
looking, well-dressed artist sitting at his easel whilst happily puffing on a Fatima
cigarette. This advertisement links cigarette smoking with artistic creativity, appealing to
creative souls who have pride in themselves and their work. It transforms the idea of
cigarette smoking from a marked habit to a positive one associated with artists and
representative of creative behavior. The artist in the photograph is quoted as saying, “I try
to get quality in work – and I demand it in my cigarette.” This quote exemplifies the
brand personality development theory, as it gives the cigarette the admirable attribute of
quality, which artists and non-artists alike can appreciate and apply to their own lives. It
implies that anyone who is passionate and strives for quality in their life should look for
the same quality in all aspects of their life – even in the cigarettes they smoke, which this
advertisement asserts should be Fatima cigarettes.
It is fairly easy to extract many different semiotic theories from the
aforementioned advertisements, as all variations of advertisements often provide obvious
examples of said examples. Early cigarette advertisements were particularly good
vehicles for such theories because there were much less advertisement restrictions
regarding adverse health effects and the glorification of dangerous products. Because of
the lack of restrictions, the true motives and tactics used in advertising are more apparent
in these ads. The main theories exemplified in the advertisements at hand are especially
effective with this particular product because they hide attributes that could manifest
themselves as negative, instead focusing the consumer’s attention on glorification of the
product.
Techniques such as brand personality development portray the product in a way
that allows the customer to relate to the product and urge them to perceive it as positive.
This is, of course, simply an illusion, as inanimate objects such as cigarettes are not
capable of exhibiting personality traits. However, the people naturally associate
personality traits that correspond with individuals, as explained by the human personality
theory. This concept applies to products, as consumers tend to use personality traits they
associate with brands when communicating about them. Therefore, a well-designed
personality of a brand can be used to effectively communicate with consumers on a more
intimate level, which is extremely useful when a product is being geared toward a
specific target demographic. The cigarette companies included in this essay take
advantage of peoples’ tendency to associate personality traits with products by means of
suggestive depictions of certain people and usage of key words.
Markedness is applicable to this issue in that the marked habit of smoking can be
seen being transformed into a typical activity, on representative of whatever behavior the
advertisement chooses to portray. Whether it is protecting our country or expressing
artistic creativity, the product becomes associated with that behavior when the two are
paired, allowing the company’s product to appeal to virtually any type of person.
As far as the gender bias apparent in many of the ads applies a similar concept,
targeting mainly men with pictures and captions that appeal to males. The companies
want to create a strong connection to the consumer, so they focus each ad on the intended
target audience to guarantee that connection, as opposed to creating a general ad that
doesn’t capture the attention of anyone in particular. Therefore, many of the ads portray
strong, brave men as smokers, with the intention of making the male consumer interested
in smoking the given brand of cigarette to share the habit with those positively portrayed
men.