Cigarette Commercials

I was never subjected to this kind of advertisement on TV, having been born in '89. On the other hand, my parents witnessed the rise of television as a mass medium. Back then, this was the norm; cigarettes sponsored everything!

How the times have changed.



Some people think The Flintstones is a kids show because it's a cartoon. The truth is, it deals with some pretty adult concepts. Like husbands enjoying a smoke break while their wives do all the housework.

The Flintstones was sponsored by Winston Cigarettes during their first season on ABC. There's no way that would fly on TV today. Imagine the amount of tobacco-related deaths if Pokemon had been sponsored by Marlboro.



These are a couple of Newport commericals from the 60s.



Maybe you do need a cigarette break, man. Seems like that acid came on pretty strong.



Here, a man is disrupted from his regular, boring, violent programming by a smokin' hot, hallucinated mistress. Don't let the ole ball and chain find out where you got those cancer sticks!!!

A Kool commercial from the 70's.



Smoking, great for your self esteem!



This one speaks for itself.

The only kind of tobacco advertising you would be able to see on TV today is something like this:





And babies. Don't forget about the babies. Lay that guilt on nice and thick, now.

As you can see, tobacco ads ultimately transformed from one minute feel-good sequences to intense 30-second PSAs.

One thing is for sure: people will probably never stop smoking.