Blessed Are the Uncool

Before It was Cool to Smoke

A lot of anti-tobacco crusaders these days talk about uncooling cigarettes. They are referring, of course, to the use of cool to sell cigarettes to young people. Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man.

By "uncool", they mean "shame", as if rejecting cool is something to be ashamed of.

But what no one is mentioning is that cigarettes were being pitched to young people long before cool conquered the advertising world. That took place in the mid sixties. Before that, taste, quality and social standing were successful tools.

Behold this ad from I don't know when. I found it at the Internet Archive. These two smokers are so square it's not even funny. But we're supposed to admire them (they're fashionable dancers) and, therefore, smoke their brand.

Labels: advertising, cigarettes

posted by locutus est @ Thursday, February 15, 2007