Cigarette Advertising
For most of the twentieth century cigarettes were sold the way anything else was sold, only better. Doctors recommended brands in magazine spreads, cartoon characters lit up in prime time, a cowboy sold more tobacco than any campaign in history, and Formula One cars ran as billboards at two hundred miles an hour. This archive collects the advertising itself rather than the argument about it: what the ads said, who made them, and when they ran. Claims are recorded as the advertiser's words, never as the archive's, because that is the only way to keep a collection like this from becoming what it documents. The regulation, the litigation and the counter-advertising are here too, as their own material.
A chronological documentary of 1,219 moments spanning 1915–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-09-20
Eras
- Television, The commercial era, from early sponsored programming to the broadcast bans. In the United States the last lawful day for cigarette advertising on air was 1 January 1971.
- Television, The commercial era, from early sponsored programming to the broadcast bans. In the United States the last lawful day for cigarette advertising on air was 1 January 1971.
- Doctors, The campaigns built on physicians, dentists and the language of science. The claims are recorded as what the advertisers said, which is the only accurate way to record them.
- Hollywood, Film stars, celebrity testimonials and cinema advertising, where endorsement did the work a slogan could not.
- Jingles, The sung lines and taglines, including radio, where the writing had to work without pictures.
- Marlboro, The cowboy, and the most studied repositioning in advertising history: a brand sold to women relaunched to men and taken worldwide.
- Women, A sport women built and then had taken over. The first official contest was the Ohio Regional Women's Physique Championship in Canton, Ohio, in November 1977, organised by Henry McGhee and won by Gina LaSpina, judged on bodybuilding rather than beauty criteria. Doris Barrilleaux founded the SPA in 1978, the first women's bodybuilding organisation run by and for women, and McGhee's USWPA followed. The Ms. Olympia arrived in 1980 and absorbed all of it. Then came four decades of rules aimed at size: the 1992 IFBB guidance that competitors should not be too big, and a 2004 memo asking female athletes to reduce muscularity by roughly a fifth for aesthetics and health. No male equivalent has ever existed. Rachel McLish, Bev Francis, Cory Everson, Lenda Murray, Kim Chizevsky, and the divisions invented to catch the women judged too muscular for the last one.
- Sport, Futsal above all, where the Kurukuru have been Oceania champions and the national obsession is genuine; plus football, rugby, canoe racing, and the 2023 Pacific Games, which Honiara hosted and built for.
- Racing, Motorsport, where liveries carried brands across borders and past broadcast bans for decades.
- Racing, Motorsport, where liveries carried brands across borders and past broadcast bans for decades.
- Billboards, The cat off the internet. Screens, billboards and physical placements out in the world.
- Global, 2002–2014. First World Cup in Asia, first in Africa. Zidane's headbutt. Germany 7-1 Brazil. The Women's World Cup audience grows beyond the USA. Spain's tiki-taka peak.
- Regulation, The law and what it required: bans, health warnings, pack design and plain packaging.
- Litigation, The court record, including the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, and what was alleged against what was adjudicated.
- Counter, Anti-smoking campaigning, which borrowed the industry's own tools and often its own airtime.
- - Rare 1910s footage of Hereford, United Kingdom Archive Film 1067719. Early advertising aimed at women smokers, a period brand presented through fashion and social imagery of the period, a 3 minute reel from 1915.
- - Fatima Cigarettes Billboard New York, 1910s - Film 95757. An early piece of outdoor cigarette advertising, a period brand at street and hoarding scale.
- - 1920-29 Soviet Cigarette Ads: Constructivism Meets Carcinogens. Early cigarette advertising made outside the United States and United Kingdom, a period brand pitched in a local idiom, preserved from a period transfer.
- - Evolution of Marlboro From 1920 to 2026. An early piece of cigarette advertising for Marlboro, in the printed and filmed styles of its day.
- - Lot 1192 China Silver Cigarette Case 1920 - 1930 (ND). Early cigarette advertising made outside the United States and United Kingdom, a period brand pitched in a local idiom, surviving in a later copy.
- - PUB - Cigarettes Gitanes - L ' Armistice des Fauves - 1925. Early cigarette advertising made outside the United States and United Kingdom, Gitanes pitched in a local idiom.
- - Front Street billboards. Early outdoor cigarette advertising, a period brand at street and hoarding scale, preserved from a period transfer.
- - Gitanes, la logique de Toto (Robert Lortac 1926). An early piece of cigarette advertising made outside the United States and United Kingdom, Gitanes pitched in a local idiom.
- - Torches of Freedom | Marketing Manipulation. Early advertising aimed at women smokers, a period brand presented through fashion and social imagery of the period, preserved from a period transfer.
- - Doctors Prescribed Cigarettes - 20,679 Physicians Said So. Pre-broadcast cigarette advertising using medical framing, American Tobacco resting the pitch for Lucky Strike on physicians and clinical language.
- - Tuli Kupferberg 1930's Cigarette Ad Great Moments in Medicine. Pre-broadcast cigarette advertising using medical framing, the advertiser resting the pitch for a period brand on physicians and clinical language.
- - Spud Cigarettes - the shower scene - JazzStoolSofteners. Early sung and spoken advertising copy for a period brand, the refrain carrying the brand.
- - PUB pour les cigarettes Gitane - Chez les antropophages - 1932. An early piece of cigarette advertising made outside the United States and United Kingdom, a period brand pitched in a local idiom.
- - Cigarette Advert, \"Schall und Rauch\", Fischerkoesen (1933). Early cigarette advertising for a period brand, in the printed and filmed styles of its day, preserved from a period transfer.
- - PHILIP MORRIS CIGARETTES THEATER AD \" CALL FOR PHILIP MORRIS \" JOHNNY ROVENTINI XD45064c. Early cigarette advertising, Philip Morris selling the brand with the bellboy call "Call for Philip Morris".
- - Sucker Money (1933) Non-filter Cigarette. An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to a period brand, a single reel from 1933.
- - Use Men! Be Strong! | Baby Face | Warner Archive. An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to a period brand, held in an archive collection.
- - Our Daily Bread (1934) Non-filter Cigarette. An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to a period brand, surviving in a later copy.
- - Leo Burnett, Founder of Leo Burnett Company - The Star Reacher. Early cigarette advertising for Marlboro, in the printed and filmed styles of its day.
- - They Hired Doctors to Sell Cigarettes. It Worked for 30 Years. . Pre-broadcast cigarette advertising using medical framing, the advertiser resting the pitch for a period brand on physicians and clinical language, held in an archive collection.
- - Old Vintage 1936 German Cigarette Packet. Early cigarette advertising made outside the United States and United Kingdom, a period brand pitched in a local idiom.
- - Tobacco Popular Advertising 1936-1950 vintage cigarette Ads lot x 10 Camel. An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to Camel.
- - 1937 Times Square at Night: Rare Color Footage of Vintage Neon Signs. Early outdoor cigarette advertising, a period brand at street and hoarding scale.
- - Lucky Strike vintage tobacco advertising 1937-1939 lot x 10 movie stars. Early sung and spoken advertising copy for Lucky Strike, the refrain carrying the brand.
- - Portia on Trial (1937) Non-filter Cigarette. Early material bearing on how cigarette advertising was policed, recording the measure and its reception.
- - Army Girl (1938) Non-filter Cigarette. An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to a period brand, a single reel from 1938.
- - The Mad Miss Manton (1938) -- Melsa and Peter: The Love Scene.. An early piece of cigarette advertising for a period brand, in the printed and filmed styles of its day.
- - Assassin of Youth (1938) Non-filter Cigarette. An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to a period brand, a 2 minute reel from 1938.
- - Barbara Stanwyck smoking - Compilation (1939-1952). An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to a period brand, preserved from a period transfer.
- - 1939 New York, Times Square at Night, Manhattan, Neons, Archive Footage. Early sung and spoken advertising copy for a period brand, the refrain carrying the brand, preserved from a period transfer.
- - VINTAGE COMMERCIAL - BRECK SHAMPOO. An early piece of advertising aimed at women smokers, Silva Thins presented through fashion and social imagery of the period.
- - VINTAGE COMMERCIAL - TAREYTON 100'S LONG CIGARETTE. Early cigarette advertising, American Tobacco selling the brand with the line "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch".
- - Salem Cigarettes Commercial 1940. Early cigarette advertising for Salem, in the printed and filmed styles of its day.
- - Lucky Strike Cigarettes Classic TV Commercial (1940). Early cigarette advertising for Lucky Strike, in the printed and filmed styles of its day.
- - VINTAGE COMMERCIAL - SILVA THIN CIGARETTES. Early advertising aimed at women smokers, Silva Thins presented through fashion and social imagery of the period.
- - The Future of Television Featuring Bob Hope in 1940. An early endorsement piece, a stage or screen performer lending a name to a period brand.
- - VINTAGE COMMERCIAL - CIGARETTES. An early piece of sung and spoken advertising copy for a period brand, the refrain carrying the brand.
- - 7 Historical images that are Rarely Published #history #fact #rarephotos #historical. An early piece of material bearing on how cigarette advertising was policed, recording the measure and its reception.
- - The CAMEL spectacular in Times Square.. A sung cigarette commercial, the melody and refrain doing the selling for Camel, a short spot from 1941.
- - Cigarette, Doctor?. A cigarette commercial using physicians and clinical framing as the basis of the advertiser's pitch to smokers, recorded as broadcast.
- - The Lady Eve (1/10) Movie CLIP - She Knows His Type (1941) HD. A cigarette commercial fronted by a screen or television personality endorsing the brand, a 3 minute reel from 1941.
- - \"LUCKY STRIKE MEANS FINE TOBACCO\" 1943 B\u0026W CIGARETTE PROMO w/ FRANK SINATRA \u0026 KAY KYSER XD81845. A cigarette commercial fronted by a screen or television personality endorsing Lucky Strike.
- - Camel T-zone vintage advertising lot x 10 old cigarette ads women. A cigarette commercial using physicians and clinical framing as the basis of R.J. Reynolds's Camel's pitch to smokers, retained with its original audio.
- - Camel cigarette vintage advertising 1943-1949 lot x 10 T-zone old smoking ads. One cigarette commercial using physicians and clinical framing as the basis of R.J. Reynolds's Camel's pitch to smokers.
- - Smoking in the Dark with Barbara Stanwyck. A cigarette commercial fronted by a screen or television personality endorsing the brand, a 6 minute reel from 1944.
- - John Wayne prefers American made cigarettes. A cigarette commercial fronted by a screen or television personality endorsing the brand, kept in its original cut.
- - WW-2 Cigarette - LUCKY STRIKE. - Commercial art film. Cigarette advertising produced outside the United States and United Kingdom, Lucky Strike pitched to a local market in its own idiom, recorded as broadcast.
- - Johnny Philip Morris Theater Advertisements 1940s. A television cigarette commercial for Philip Morris, shot in the studio style of its broadcast era, held as an air check.
- - Arthur Godfrey Starkist Tuna ad 1940s-50s. A cigarette commercial fronted by a screen or television personality endorsing the brand, a 3 minute reel from 1945.
- - Abbott and Costello's - Who's On First (filmed Jan 15 - Mar 1 1945) WITH SUBTITLES. A cigarette commercial fronted by a screen or television personality endorsing the brand, a 6 minute reel from 1945.
…and 1,169 more moments.
Full text archive: /loreline-text/cigarette-advertising.md
