Cigarettes in Fashion - Essay Example

Cigarettes in Fashion - The use of cigarettes as an accessory in fashion images 'Women smokers are likely to increase as the percentage of the total. Women are adopting more dominant roles in society; they have increased spending power . All that makes woman a prime target' Tobacco Reporter, 1998 Introduction Robert Foss (1973:279) states the cigarette smoking is widespread phenomena which for many was accepted as nothing more than an objectionable habit due to health and many other factors. Cigarettes are in news for all the good and bad news in the past and present as well. The marketing and promotion of cigarette is not only limited to advertising by companies but it was also the endeavor of many known and unknown celebrities who used cigarettes as a style statement and triggered love for smoking among many, mostly youngsters. The Hazlitt observation's of fashion as race of appearances, mode of symbolic expression which has been widely agreed by different sects of the society. (Dwight E. Robinson, 1961) Images of models smoking cigar featuring in fashion magazines, movies, posters, etc. have been the main cause for increased level of smoking among the youngsters as well as women which is well supported by Gilly Andrews (2005:47) as smoking is the UK's largest cause for preventable death and disability, responsible for over 120,000 deaths a year which comprises of 30,000 women costing 1.7 billion each year. M.A.H. Russell et al (1974) mentioned Tomkins psychological theory, wherein smoking was classified into four groups viz; positive effect smoking that produces or increases pleasant feeling, negative effect smoking that reduces unpleasant feelings, anger or fear, shame, etc., habitual smokers who smoke without affect and addictive smokers who smoke continuously without which he gets restless. The present study makes an attempt to collect necessary and appropriate study and findings from the previous studies in order to analyze how images of smoking used by fashion magazines and other editorials impact the people and especially women and will try to answer whether the cigarettes in fashion images increase the women's sexual appeal or is it just an fashion element to sell the products. Review of Literature Gilman and Zhou (2004) mention that smoking prevailed in the past when the people used to take certain hubs to smoke. The Mayans, Aztecs, Caribs and many others used to smoke one form or other tobacco. Smoke which was initially taken for curing later became a passion and a source of pleasure for most of the smokers. With tobacco having such a long history, from late 18th century, cigarette smoking was viewed as part of modernity according to Penny Tinkler (2006:5), but the process of modernity had already begun in 1880 in the western societies as it was believed as a quality of social experience and practical negotiation of one's life and identity within the complex and fast changing world. Fred C. Pampel (2001) states that there has been considerable increase in women smokers due to the fact they were having limited access or treated unequally in the past, and thereafter because of narrowing sex differences in times of gender equality and strengthening values of female independence has lead to newfound freedom and higher status of women creating a desire in the women to do things all good and bad, due to increased level of income, power and equal social status comparatively to men. Thus the fact that woman were denied certain luxuries and equalities in the past; has lead to increased level of smoking due to high income, equality and increased level of social status in the present which in turn provided stimulus to tobacco companies to market their product keeping specifically for women. Penny Tinkler (2001) further mentions that in 1996/97, 28% of British women were smokers of manufactured and hand rolled cigarettes as compared to 31% men and it is suggested that cigarettes was more used as fashion accessory for affluent, upwardly mobile city living women. There has been considerable increase in the consumption of cigarette by the women, major consumers being the teenagers among the age group of 16 years and over. The main cause of such increase in smoking is attributed to advertisement during that period portraying women models with stylish cigarettes promoting smoking amongst women and girls. During the research carried out by Tinker and White, it was found that between the three sects of magazines which were divided into working, middle class or middle/upper class. It was found that though the magazines contained number of advertisements regarding cosmetics, toiletry, soaps, etc. there were few advertisements on cigarettes. While magazines targeted towards the middle class women contained advertisements for all beauty products, accessories, apparels alongside cigarette brands. Tinker states that Honey, a monthly magazine for middle class young working women did not featured tobacco products. Most of the advertisements would feature extensively in magazines targeted towards middle and upper class women for age group over 17 or 18 years. Magazines like Miss Modern, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Woman, etc. displayed advertisements on cigarettes as they were targeted towards the women readers of over 17 or 18 years. Visual images were not restricted to women as they were increasingly engaged in paid jobs, political action, education in urban centres, unaccompanied access to different places of their choice and their visual terrain of modernity was not however restricted to public urban areas. Media is wholly credited to impress upon the women to take up smoking and by the late 1880's middle class women workers, female art students apart from literary ladies had adopted smoking which was confidently declared by the Edith Vance, secretary of the National Secular Society in 1898 that 30 percent of women worker's smoked. (Penny Tinkler, 2005:19-20) Media, electronic and print, both were equally responsible for the women's to take smoking which gave the impression of modernity and fast moving society. This phenomena is rightly stated by Pollay and Dewhirst (2002) where cigarette during 1950's portrayed filters as the technological fix to health concerns which equally supported with dramatic announcements in news and were stamped with various medical agencies like American Medical Association in case of Miracle Tip Filters and others which were variously described as effective, complete, superior, etc. there were instances when even the Parliament certified a brand that it has met all the standards as prescribed by the United States Testing Co.. While government endorsed products were mostly responsible for cigarettes, the tags used the cigarette companies to attract consumers to use their brands is highly responsible. Tags like 'I'm realistic. I only smoke Facts', 'There are many reasons to smoke now' coupled with models and celebrities inculcated the excitement in the general public to smoke cigarettes. While some advertisements like True cigarettes where a women model with a cigarette in hand along with tagline 'Considering all I'd heard, I decided to either quit or smoke True. I smoke True' could be the reason for women among working class to adopt smoking habit. (Pollay and Dewhirst, 2002) Smoking was outward symbol of rebellion against the old family moral behavior. The first advertisement to target women came in 1920 with 'Blow some my way' for Chesterfield Cigarettes. (Catherine Gourley,2007) And moreover interpretation of cigarette through fashion was also one of the reasons for increased use among the women which created a sense of modernity as mentioned by Buckley and Fawcett wherein cigarette was advertised showing young women with bobbed hair and short cocktail dress slouching titled 'Miss Infatuation' representing an liberated market for woman specially. Virginia Slim's advertisement provided superiority to feminine nature of women than men saying 'We make Virginia Slims especially for women because they are biologically superior to men'(Tobacco.org) And to encourage the use of cigarettes amongst women, Virginia Slims even sponsored Tennis World Championship Series during 1985. Mid 19th century was revolutionized with growing importance among women and more products and brands were targeted towards them including cigarettes. Penny Tinkler states that women smokers dressed in latest styles like cocktail dress, masculine style suit, and sportswear and place of women smokers in vanguard of fashion was consolidated by their appearances in fashion magazines. The cigarette, as fashion accessory' was confirmed in mid 1920 with stylish cigarette holders of various colors and length were used. Smoking was associated with the fashionable, feminine, sporty look and implicated in the production of modern slender body encouraging new ways of using female body and also new ways of presenting female self and been seen. Smoking challenged the Victorian notion of feminine appearance and encouraged the women to use mouth in ways other than traditionally. It is further mentioned that cigarettes were further used to draw attention to the made up face. Susan Carney (2007) agrees that companies target teens making false promises about their improved looks and health, which makes them addicted to smoking. And moreover the companies have specifically targeted women and girls by associating specific brands with slimness which plays into cultural pressures to be thin. Inness (2003) states that advertisers had adopted the new phenomena which were stated in simple words: 'You've come a Long Way, Baby' thus signaling the freedom of women from conservative mode of living. During this time, there were numerous brands which were targeted especially towards women and amongst them was Virginia Slims, a cigarette created by Philips Morris introduced during 1968 with huge investment in advertising linked with three themes which stated that smoking helps women control their weight, smoking is a women can flaunt their independence and smoking is glamorous and sophisticated. Joining the brigade was Capri 100's which labeled itself as the slimmest cigarette known to woman and its tagline that 'She's gone to Capri and she's not coming back' gives an impression that smoking Capri will lead them to fantasy world and this was the period when heath conditions were seriously effected and most of them were thinking of quitting the habit, but contrast to this, the trend increased among the women. (Suzanne Romaine, ) According to the report of the Surgeon General in 'The health consequences of smoking for women', women have differed from men in their historical onset of widespread cigarette use and by 1964, 79% of women and 54% men used filter cigarettes and with each successive generation, smoking characteristics of men and women have almost become similar. The report also states that smoking habits among the age group of 17 to 19 years exceeds that of men by women which provides the basis to assume that rate of initiation among men is declining and use of cigarette by future generation women is uncertain. This assumption is also supported by Ferriss (1971), where it is mentioned that the cigarette smoking is declining faster among men than women. Robert E. Goodin (1989) states that smoking is a private vice harming smokers themselves leaving it to their personal discretion to decide whether to quit or continue. But in recent past, the said phenomenon is challenged by evidence of harmful effects of 'passive smoking'. According to a report published in Cincinnati Magazine (1997), despite anti tobacco campaigns, and many other awareness campaigns, the number of young women taking up the habit of smoking was increasing. The magazine reported some the facts why women smoked which included personal image, group norms, peer pressure, weight loss, etc. And the fashion industry as well using advertising techniques which had dreadful impact on young teens and the use of pencil thin models, who smoke as an image standard. The magazine also presents a documentary report of the backstage life wherein models smoke and drink champagne converting the dressing room into nightclub. The increase in young women smokers has lead to increased amount of budget to spend in the advertising using female models creating visuals where girls are carried by their boyfriends, something like Virginia Slims saying 'It's a woman thing'. Cigarette smoking was largely a male product, the belief which further excited female adopt this practice. And moreover, the advertisements showing blonde ladies with stylish cigarettes in hand along with increased sexual appeal was an intriguing factor in women's taking up smoking. This assumption could be rightly recognized through Black Cat Cigarettes equated itself with women bodies with pleasure of smoking. (Penny Tinker, 2006) However advertisements were common for men and women, but during 1960 and 70, ads were targeted towards women with brands like Dunhill Slims and Olivier which implied a sense of liberalism among women to have their own brand, and this was meant for them. And most of the ads were meant to create a sense of style statement. Advertising is not a new false promise as the modern day women with ultra t thin figures or breast implant are the transformed version of females who have mangled themselves in the name of feminine sex appeal and further increasing the anxiety among the females about their own appearance and the very notion of women's liberation. (Anthony, 2004:57) Claire and Manuel (n.d) states that images of sleek, young bodies, taut and taunted have more impact on the minds of teenagers despite the warning. Pollay and Dewhirst (2002) came to a conclusion that image or illusion of filtration was essential to selling of the cigarette and the thing that matters to the companies is the opinion and perceptions of consumers, but not the medical or technological facts known to manufacturers or experts. Cigarette advertising was prepared keeping in mind the consumer's ego/ status needs, along with brand imagery that affects self perception and social symbolism of smoking. National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (2006) presented details about the study which evaluated the top grossing films from 1985 to 1995 where it was revealed that 98 percent of the films had references that supported the use of tobacco and 46 percent of the films portrayed the lead actors smoking. It is also revealed that lead Hollywood actresses are most of the times shown smoking on screens to control their emotions, to manifest power and sex appeal, to enhance their body image or self image or to control weight. Some of the famous female actresses who smoked on-screen are Scarlett Johnson, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, Sharon Stone and most of them are admired for their performance and make a huge impact on the audience who literally imitate the acts of their idol. Further it is stated that smoking frequently was used to signify freedom and sexiness of character which largely appealed to girls and women. This statement is well supported by Brengelman as he observed that money and sex appeal is the only thing that sells the product to young people. (Cincinnati Magazine, 1997) r Conclusion Cigarette is mainly being used for numerous reasons as stated by Tomkins Psychological Theory. Various literatures on the subject have revealed that women took to smoking at their own discretion. Most of the working women smoked to be judged equal in society in accordance to men. But the main cause will be attributed to movies, victimizing number of young teens to adopt smoke due to the fact that lead actors smoked on-screen thus impressing upon the young girls and women sexually. References 1. Abbott Lamoyne Ferriss (1971) Indicators of trends in the status of American women, Russell Stage Foundation, pp.204 2. Anthony Joseph Paul Cortese (2004) Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising, Ed.2, Rowman & Littlefield, pp.57 3. Catherine Gourley (2007) Flappers and the New American Woman: Perceptions of Women from 1918 through the 1920's, Twenty First Century Books, pp.83 4. Dwight E. Robinson (1961) The Economics of Fashion Demand, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 75. No. 3, pp. 376-398 5. Emmis Communication, (1997) Cincinnati Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 92 6. Fred C. Pamper (2001) Cigarette Diffusion and Sex Differences in Smoking, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 388-404 7. Gilman L. Sander and Zhou, Xun (2004) Smoking: A Global History of Smoking, Reaktion Books, pp.298 8. Inness Sherrie A. (2003) Disco Divas: Women and Popular Culture in 1970's, University of Pennsylvania, pp. 18 9. M.A.H. Russell, J. Peto and U.A. Patel (1974) The Classification of Smoking by Factorial Structure of Motives, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (General) Vol. 137, No. 3, pp 313-346 10. National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (2006) Women under the influence, JHU Press, Columbia University, pp.40 11. Penny Tinker (2001) 'Red Tips for Hot Lips': Advertising cigarettes for young women in Britain, 1920-70, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, Women History Review, 10:2, pp249-272 12. Penny Tinker (2006) Smoke Signals: Women, Smoking, and Visual Culture in Britain, Berg Publishers, pp.83 13. Pollay R.W and Dewhirst T (2002) The Dark Side of Marketing seemingly "Light" Cigarettes: Successful Images and Failed Fact, Tobacco Control, Vol. 11, Supplement 1: Discourses and Disclosures in the Corporate, BMJ Publishing Group, pp i18-i31 14. Robert E. Goodin (1989) The Ethics of Smoking, Vol. 99. No. 3, pp. 574-624 15. Robert Foss (1973) Personality, Social Influence and Cigarette Smoking, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 279-286 16. Susan Carney (2007) Tobacco Advertising Teens - Marketing Strategies Cigarette Companies Use to Target Kids, Suite101, Feb 10, 2007, Accessed on 14th Dec 2009 http://youthdevelopment.suite101.com/article.cfm/tobacco_advertising_and_teens 17. Tobacco Reporter (1998) Women and Tobacco, Tobacco Center.org, http://tobaccofreecenter.org/files/pdfs/en/women_tobacco_en.pdf Read More