Tobacco Industry Studies Ways Hook Female Smokers

This is from an Associated Press report which stated that tobacco companies did elaborate research on ways to market cigarette smoking to women. Some of these marketing schemes included creating chocolate-flavored cigarettes, and cigarettes that would curb appetite so women can lose weight.

Researchers at Harvard University's School of Public Health said they examined more than 7 million documents dating from 1969 to 2000 for details on the industry's marketing plans to give women the illusion that they could have a better,
healthier' life with cigarettes. Examples included R.J. Reynolds proposals to create cigarettes with a "unique flavor that decreases a smoker's appetite, including brandy, chocolate, chocolate mint, cinnamon, spearmint, and honey."

Gee...That's not surprising. What business wouldn't try new ideas to target new markets, new customers for their products. Just about every industry examines the market in search of targeting a consumer who would buy their product. In the auto industry, you have many different types of market segments--cars for the soccer moms and families, sports cars for the performance drivers, luxury cars for the businessmen who want to make a statement on how much money they've made, hybrids for the environmentally conscious market, and even trucks and SUVs for the rugged outdoors consumer. Just about every product will have a market will be segmented to niche markets of which companies can adapt their product to sell to those individual niche markets.

And the tobacco industry? Of course they're going to target women with their own type of cigarettes. They've been doing that for years--remember Virginia Slims? I'd say that was one of the first cigarettes to be specifically targeted for women. Starting in the 1980s, I would believe, the magazines would come out with advertisements showing beautiful, slim, fashionable women--laughing and strutting next to a Virginia Slims cigarette carton with a caption saying, "You've come a long way baby!" The whole marketing campaign was to tell the successful businesswomen/supermoms that they've made it and now its time to reward themselves with a Virginia Slims smoke. Hey, you've got to find new consumers who would buy your product to replace the old consumers who are dying off due to lung cancer--got to keep that profit machine rolling. Camel was another successful marketing campaign. Although not specifically targeted towards women, Camel created some slick magazine ads showing buffed, macho camel/human figures in hip nightclubs drinking beer, playing pool, cavorting with gorgeous female camels in sexy dresses, dancing and flirting. Of course everyone in those camel ads were smoking camel cigarettes. That whole marketing campaign was targeted towards young teenagers--smoke a Camel and you can be just as cool as in the magazine ad.

I'm not saying that this marketing campaign of chocolate cigarettes which allow women to lose weight is right or wrong. It doesn't surprise me that the industry would try these different marketing campaigns for targeting women--it is all about getting the almighty dollar from these consumers. If they want to smoke and end up with health problems, that is their problem. I do find the industry to be reprehensible with their own hypocrisy and lies about creating a healthier, better lifestyle by smoking. The real problem here is that as long as people are willing to try cigarettes, then the tobacco companies are willing to sell them. It is all about supply and demand. The only way to limit demand is for government to continue anti-smoking education and to harshly regulate the tobacco industry's push in marketing and advertising (For example, stop the tobacco industry's push in increasing the exposure of smoking in the movies).

Unfortunately there's not much you can do to stop a person from lighting up on their own free will.