Targeting Minority Women

A Marginalized Market

In the 1980s, feminist lecturer Jean Kilbourne noted the striking difference between Philip Morris’ Virginia Slims cigarette advertisements in publications directed to a predominantly African-American female readership and those that were aimed at white women. One long-running Virginia Slims campaign in the 1970s in magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Vogue featured sepia-toned vignettes that contrasted subjugated, male-dominated housewives of the 19th century with the liberated superwoman of the 20th century – who smoked Virginia Slims. The fact that black women were enslaved during the 19th century doubtless led Philip Morris to take a different approach to their descendants: advertisements for Virginia Slims in Ebony and Essence magazines stuck strictly to African-American models holding cigarettes.

More On: Targeting Minority Women – A Marginalized Market