You’ve Coughed Up Long Enough, Baby!

Women’s Liberation. Really?

While cigarette advertising from the late-1920s through the 1950s emphasized images of actresses, ladies of high society, and women gazing longingly into the eyes of men, advertisements from the the 1960s onward reflected the era of women’s liberation and featured independent, confident, take-charge, career-minded women.

Virginia Slims

“You’ve come a long way, baby!”

No cigarette brand aligned itself more with women’s liberation than Philip Morris’ Virginia Slims, which debuted in 1968. The brand’s initial advertising campaigns alluded to the women’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century by contrasting the perceptions of men’s and women’s smoking habits. By the late-1970s, the brand was associated itself with fashion and wealth. At the start of the 21st century, Virginia Slims advertisements featured coyly grinning women and New Age slogans. Some advertisements did not include a cigarette or a depiction of smoking–just an image, a slogan…and the Surgeon General’s warning.

“Women won their rights…” (01:06)

Commercial by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes, shown in British cinemas
Circa 1971 (United Kingdom)

(Cigarette commercials shown in movie theaters in the UK were not banned until 1986.)

“When Mrs. Pamela Benjamin was caught smoking…” (01:03)

Commercial by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes, shown in British cinemas
Circa 1971 (United Kingdom)

“Back in the old days, men were the masters, women were the slaves” (01:04)

Commercial by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes, shown in British cinemas
Circa 1971 (United Kingdom)

The Last Overt TV Cigarette Commercial in the U.S. (01:02)

“Such was the zeitgeist power of Virginia Slims that they became the very last cigarette brand ever advertised on American TV, at 11:59 p.m on January 2, 1971, during The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Richard Nixon had signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which banned cigarette advertisements on broadcast media, on April 1, 1970.”

Source: OPEN CULTURE, August 2, 2022

“’Peaches’ Carter”

Magazine advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
1974

“In 1915, Mrs. Cheryl Van Eaton cleverly hid her cigarettes in a hollow duck decoy…”

Advertisement by Philip Morris inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
Home Ideas
1975

“A low tar slim cigarette all your own.”

Advertisement by Philip Morris for Virginia Slims Lights cigarettes
The New York Times Magazine
January 27, 1980

“BACK IN 1903 TWIN REVERS HAD 2 EXERCISE CLASSES: HIM AND HERS”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
The National Enquirer
April 12, 1983

“Back then, a woman always got equal pay for equal work.”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
The Los Angeles Times Home Magazine
November 11, 1984

“In 1904, Mrs. George Hubbard found a clever way to sneak a cigarette while her husband still got the attention he demanded. You’ve come a long way, baby”

Advertisement by Philip Morris inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
People Extra
1989

1991 11 Ebony Virginia Slims Ad Big Girls Dont Cry

“Big girls don’t cry. They go shopping.”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims Menthol cigarettes
EBONY Magazine
November 1991

“B & H introduces cigarette ‘specifically for women'”

“SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – “Virginia Slims,” the first cigarette created specially for women, recently was introduced in the Bay Area by the Benson and Hedges division of Philip Morris, Inc.
“Introduction of the brand marks the first time a cigarette has been produced for any special consumer category, the company reported. The product design, packaging, advertising, and promotion for ‘Virginia Slims’ have all been designed with the female smoker in mind.
“In the past, cigarettes have traditionally have been developed and marketed to satisfy general product areas such as the filter, menthol, king-size, 100 millimeter, and coupon segments.
“The new brand is 100 mm long and is slimmer than the usual cigarette. It has a white filter tip and contains a mild, but flavorful tobacco blend. ‘Virginia Slims’ will be available in both regular and menthol versions.

“*Potential notes – Ross R. Millhiser, president of Philip Morris Domestic, noted that the national market potential for the new brand is sizable, since more than 40 per cent of all smokers – or approximately 38 million—are women.
“Commenting on the potential for the menthol version of the new brand, Mr. Millhiser said that the outlook was favorable because an estimated 35 per cent of all women smokers prefer menthol cigarettes, compared to about 20 per cent of the total cigarette market.
“Philip Morris tested the slimness of the brand among separate groups of both men and women. Men felt that the slim brand was attractive for women. The women tested found it attractive for themselves personally as well as for all women smokers in general.”
TOBACCO –The International Weekly (tobacco industry trade journal), August 9, 1968, page 12

“The first successful new cigarette idea since Benson & Hedges comes from Benson & Hedges.
Virginia Slims.
The new slim cigarette for women only.”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims Regular and Menthol cigarettes.
TOBACCO–The International Weekly
September 27, 1968

“Because of the outstanding success of Virginia Slims in the San Francisco test market, national distribution will begin now: three months ahead of schedule.
“The immediate sales response has proven that the ‘for women only’ concept will receive wide acceptance among America’s 38,000,000 women smokers.
“The Benson & Hedges Division of Philip Morris Inc. will support the Virginia Slims introduction with the largest advertising expenditure in the company’s history…”

“A jobber’s job is better than it used to be.
Since Virginia Slims”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims Regular or Menthol cigarettes
TOBACCO–The International Weekly
December 27, 1968

“Now the American woman is giving you the attention you deserve. They’re counting on you to get Virginia Slims to the stores so they can buy them.
“Already, Virginia Slims has achieved a 3% to 4% share of total sales in many high-volume outlets. So order enough…both regular and menthol. And keep the ladies happy.”

“Thousands of San Francisco women couldn’t understand why Virginia Slims were out of stock.
But you know why.”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
TOBACCO–The International Weekly
November 15, 1968

“…After only nine weeks of advertising, independent audits of high volume stores, in the Bay area, showed Virginia Slims had obtained the following sales share of market:
*Chain food stores 3.7%
*Independent food stores 3.0%
*Chain drug stores 4.2%
*Independent drug stores 4.6%
*All other accounts 5.0%..”

“Introducing the Virginia Slims tennis, golf, visit Aunt Martha, stroll-in-the-park sweater.”

Advertisement by Philip Morris, Inc.
Better Homes and Gardens
1975

Formed in 1970 by nine professional women’s tennis players and funded by Philip Morris, the Virginia Slims Tennis Circuit was a response to the underpayment of women athletes. Televised matches of the Slims Circuit featured ubiquitous courtside Virginia Slims logos, thus circumventing the ban on TV cigarette advertising.

Visit the Exhibition “‘Fault!’ Tennis, Tobacco, and Virginia Slims”

“Dance around naked with a rose between your teeth if you want…”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
LIFE Magazine
1999

“Find your voice”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
Nylon
November 2000

“I have a greater interest in shaping the world”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
Nylon
Circa 2000

“Sometimes not even spinach between my teeth can keep me from Laughing”

Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims cigarettes
Nylon
November 2000

“Do you have a teenage daughter at home? Is she a cigarette smoker? The same responsibility you feel for protecting your daughter against the dangers of cigarette smoking should be extended to your readers…Your publication has run articles on women’s health — but nothing on the fact that 29,000 women died last year because of their tobacco habit. WILL YOU WRITE SOMETHING ON THIS ISSUE? We have a constituency of 10,000 women physicians — any number of whom would be delighted to help you put together an article which addresses the smoking among our teenagers” (2 pages)

Letter from Constance U. Battle, M.D., President, American Medical Women’s Association, to the editors of 17 popular women’s magazines, including COSMOPOLITAN, Mademoiselle, Ms., SELF, Ladies’ Home Journal, and GLAMOUR.
November 10, 1986

Donated by Mary Ann Cromer, MD, Somerville, Massachusetts

“As President of the American Medical Women’s Association, a multi-issue national organization of female physicians three quarters of a century old, I would like to invite your organization to join ours in an effort to enlighten women about the malignant seductiveness of the tobacco industry…””

Letter from Constance U. Battle, MD, President, American Medical Women’s Association, to Eleanor Smeal, President, National Organization of Women.
October 15, 1986

Donated by Mary Ann Cromer, MD, Somerville, Massachusetts

Lost to history…

Philip Morris’s quest to capture the hearts and lungs of American women who smoked left competitors gasping for breath. Within a year of the launch of Virginia Slims cigarettes in 1968, R.J. Reynolds tried and flailed with EMBRA. A year later, American Brands attempted to appeal to women with SILVA THIN, but wound up alienating many (see stories below). In 1971 Liggett & Myers introduced Eve with more traditional feminine imagery (a floral pack design and the slogan, “Every inch a lady”). The brand has maintained a negligible market share. Lorillard’s Max (1971) and Satin (1982) never caught on. Nor did Brown & Williamson’s Capri (1987). Indeed, for most of the past four decades the number one cigarette brand among women has been Marlboro. As Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph Califano, Jr., ruefully noted in the late-1970s when he stepped up the federal government’s campaign against smoking, “Women who smoke like men, die like men.” By 1985, lung cancer had surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.

“Reynolds launches Embra — a woman’s cigarette”

“• R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has introduced a new and what it calls, distinctly women’s cigarette, EMBRA, available in both regular and menthol versions. It is an extra-length and slightly slimmer-23mm-cigarette with a satin-like filter which Reynolds says is the first brand ever designed totally and exclusively for women. ‘The tobacco blend, the size, the filter tip, the package, the carton and the advertising,’ a Reynolds spokesman said, ‘were all designed to appeal to the woman smoker.’

“Packaging innovations with a special appeal to women include a package that is ‘half-way between’ the normal soft pack and a flip-top box, a self-locking flap that closes over the cigarettes to keep loose tobacco from falling out in purses, and embossing that gives the entire package the feel of a fabric cigarette case. The carton has windows cut from each side permitting the package design to be seen and giving the carton a see-through look. It also features a zip-tape top for easy opening. Even the name EMBRA is reported to have an “undefinable” ( the Spanish for ‘female’ is ‘hembra’) appeal for women, according to Reynolds, although it is a coined name.

“EMBRA extra-length filters will be sold in a light brown package, the menthol in light green.*”

TOBACCO—The International Weekly, September 26, 1969, page 38

*EMBRA was test-marketed in Denver, St. Louis. and Winston-Salem (TOBACCO, August 15, 1969)

“American Brands defends ad against militant feminists”

“NEW YORK, N.Y. — American Brands is sticking by its guns despite a protest of militant feminists against an advertising slogan for SILVA THIN cigarettes.

“Marchers in a women’s liberation demonstration here recently voiced their objection to the slogan which read: ‘Cigarettes are like women. The best ones are
thin and rich.’ The protesters concluded the ad implied that ‘a woman is no good unless she’s thin and rich.’
“But American Brands bounced right back with a documented defense for the promotion. It said a telephone survey by an independent pollster showed that 73
per cent of the women respondents in a canvas of 10 major cities asserted that they thought women would rather be thin and rich than young and energetic
or mature and intelligent, thus confirming to the manufacturers’ satisfaction the validity of the SILVA THIN cigarette advertising theme.”

TOBACCO–The International Weekly, September 4, 1970, page 16

“Wear a cigarette”

“VIRGINIA SLIMS introduces the fashion collection that’s FREE with proofs of purchase –Hot Fashions And Special Savings Inside” (3 pages)

Sunday newspaper advertising insert by Philip Morris Inc. for Virginia Slims V wear
1993

“Wear a Max today.” (8 pages)

Advertisement by P. Lorillard Tobacco Company for Max 120s cigarettes
Peuple Weekly Magazine with

Advertisement by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for Winston cigarettes (“There’s only one reason to smoke, and the reason is taste. That’s why I smoke Winston.)
Advertisement by AH Robins for Robitussin (“Which Kind of Cough Medicine is Right for Your Cough?”)
Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Benson & Hedges cigarettes (“B&H, I like your style.”)
Advertisement by Philip Morris Inc. for Merit Ultra Lights (National Smoker Study: Merit Scores Important Victory!”)
Advertisement by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for Vantage 100s cigarettes (“Imagine! Taste this good. Plus ‘low’ tar!”)
Advertisement by Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company for Rich Lights cigarettes (“Introducing the first low ‘tar’ cigarette good enough to be called ‘Rich.'”)
January 8, 1979