Advertising has been defined by McQuerrey (2018, p.1) as ‘a calculated approach to proactively and strategically notify your target audience about your company and its products’.

According to Hayko (2010, p.79) ‘There are two major polarities on this issue; one side believes that advertising is harmful to society, the other side believes that advertising does not affect society in a negative way ‘. These issues will be discussed in relation to the advertising of cigarettes with particular reference to graphic design.

In the 20th Century cigarettes were a highly popular product used by the majority of the population which provided ‘income and employment to hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions indirectly, and heavily taxed, thus providing the state with considerable cash to help underwrite many social needs’ (Fletcher (2010, p.118).

Employment was one of the main contributions that advertising provided to society. It provided jobs in many different sectors. In relation to cigarettes, initially this started abroad with the growing of the tobacco which then had to be imported. This led to the creation of jobs in the factories where it was made into cigarettes, the manufacture of packaging and boxes followed by the distribution to sales outlets which had to employ staff to sell the product . Advertising companies and very importantly designers to create and advertise the brand also had to be employed. The taxes from those with jobs funded government expenditure on social amenities such as education and law and order and the salaries of those working for the government to provide these.

Hayko (2010, p79) quotes ‘Advertising pops up everywhere, on the streets, in our communication, and even in the most intimate of spaces, our home. There is no doubt that advertising, influences our culture, which in turn influences us’.

One of the most important functions of advertising cigarettes was to attract the attention and imagination of the public and create brand awareness. A successful advertisement made that brand stand out which in turn generated sales and achieved a long-term brand. It created competition between companies always seeking to improve the quality of their product and lower its price.

Dyer (1982, p.93) states that ‘The overall impression that it creates and the techniques it uses to create it are important when understanding the meaning of an advertisement’. The images created in the cigarette advertisements had to be persuasive, powerful, emotive, manipulative and eye-catching.

Advertising helped national creativity and provided the public with free and inexpensive media which took many forms. In the 20th Century these included posters, newspapers, magazines, billboards, TV adverts and brands and also playing cards, matchboxes and beer mats to advertise cigarettes.

‘Tombstone’ advertising of cigarettes also existed at this time where the cigarette packet only had the product name. This was considered a non-persuasive form of advertising. A great deal of research, therefore, went into the name and the pack design to make it appeal to the target audience.

Figure 1 - Ogden cigarette playing card backing.

Ogden is an example of tombstone advertising, used to promote their world famed cigarettes on the back of playing cards. During the early to mid 20 tth Century using cards would have been extremely effective, the cards also became extremely collectable.

Dyer (1982, p.3) is of the opinion that people who view advertising negatively argue that ‘advertisements create false wants and encourage the production and consumption of things that are incompatible with the fulfilment of genuine and urgent human needs’’ Cigarettes were not a commodity that society needed to survive but

advertisements created a deep-seated longing for them.

Chapman (1996, p.125) believes that ‘another way of approaching the question of whether advertising is misleading is to ask whether there are aspects of a product which if omitted from advertising, would result in consumers being misled?’ In the case of cigarettes, not carrying a health warning about the risks of smoking would an example.

In the words of Fletcher (2010) ‘A clever advertising campaign can make the public think whatever the advertising campaign wants them to think about the brand’.

In the first half of the 20th Century celebrities and doctors began to feature in coloured advertisements to promote cigarette brands in newspapers, magazines and on television. Entire pages featuring celebrities started to appear in newspapers and magazines. The subtle message conveyed was that if a doctor chose to smoke a particular brand then it must be safe. The doctors, unlike the celebrities used, were not specific individuals who would risk losing their license if featured in advertising. The images were always of an idealised doctor who was wise and caring, engaged in smoking and conveying the message that smoking was safe. Although not generally considered unethical at the time this view was later to change as the dangers of smoking become more evident.

Figure 2 – Public figure cigarette advertisement

Camel advertised using public figures like doctors, by doing this it portrayed that smoking was safe and something they recommended doing. In the design of the magazine the M & D are accentuated in red, this reinforces the associated cigarette

with medical prestige. The use of the imagery is clever regarding the size of the doctor smoking, he is the first section of the page you will see. The red background draws your eye instantly towards it, with other details written smaller in a paragraph lower down.

Figure 3 – Celebrity figure advertisement

Chesterfield were notorious for using celebrity faces in most of their advertisements. Bing Crosby a famous singer during the early to mid 20th century was used in this example. He would have been looked up to by many people, when they saw him as the face of a brand they were more likely to build consumer want. They are clever using a speech bubble as part of the design to make it seem that Bing himself is advertising the brand.

Young people were, in particular, targeted and influenced by these advertisements as they portrayed the image that smoking was safe and a ‘cool’ thing to be involved in and something that all their friends were doing. If the medical profession claimed it was safe and ‘healthy’ to smoke then it must be.

In 1925, when the First World War, ended, advertising companies began to target women in their advertisements as the industry was largely aimed at and dominated up until this time by male soldiers. Advertisements featured images of glamourous women, babies and nurses portraying the image that smoking was feminine and empowering.

The aim of advertising is to present a product in the most favourable light but can cigarette advertising be considered lies which are unethical? In the first half of the 20th Century smoking was not seen to pose a health risk as very little was known on this subject at that time. It was, therefore, not generally considered to be unethical and misleading but research in the 1950s was to change the face of cigarette advertising forever.

Garfield (2005, p.1) writes ‘In the Second World War, only military action killed more Britons than cigarettes. The tobacco industry wouldn’t accept it - and the government couldn’t afford to. But in Oxford, one scientist was about to prove the cancer link that changed the course of medical history’.

Throughout the Thirties the cases of lung cancer had increased steadily but the reason why was not known. In 1949, Richard Doll who worked for the Medical Research Council and Bradford Hill, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene visited patients in London hospitals who had been diagnosed with lung cancer. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire about their smoking habits, family history, any previous diseases and their diet. They found that there were two non- smokers in 649 cases of lung cancer. They then carried out further research on

5,000 people in Cambridge, Bristol and Leeds and the results were the same, The results were published but no-one took them seriously so in 1951 they wrote to 59,600 doctors about their smoking habits and monitored the doctors health over the next few years. The results were the same again and they published their findings in 1954. Although the number dying was still relatively small the media and general public still took little notice, however, some doctors did, particularly those who smoked heavily and whose health was deteriorating. In 1956 Doll and Hill, after further research, found that the results were unmistakable with more than 200 heavy smokers having died in a four-year period while the incidence among non-smokers was negligible. The 1960s saw a great change in the history of cigarette advertising as a result of the serious health concerns. By 1962 the Royal College of Physicians had enough evidence to push for a ban on advertising. Over the next few decades there was a gradual phasing out of advertising with the Labour Party passing the ‘Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act (2002) with the aim of wiping it out completely by 2005.

Fletcher (2010, p.12) quotes ‘Since earliest history, human beings have been well aware of the imagery - ‘the emotional baggage’ - of the product’.

1955 saw the introduction of ITV in this country and cigarette companies began to advertise on television. The target audience was more limited than other advertising methods as it did not reach such a wide audience as not all households had televisions at this time but nevertheless the message was the same, smoking was not harmful to your health.

Winston cigarettes were sponsors of the American animated TV sitcom ‘The Flintstones’ which was shown on British television. The characters in this animated series can be seen smoking and advertising ‘Winston tastes good like a cigarette should’, on the packet. It was not until Pebbles Flintstone was born that Winston withdrew their involvement having been criticised for advertising smoking on a family show.

This is another use of public figures that people saw regularly on their televisions, a clever way of promoting their product. The use of black and white limited the brand’s appearance, meaning they would have to make sure that the characters mentioned or showed what exactly it was.

Figure 4 – Flintstones promoting Wintsons

Researching into how companies advertise cigarettes has opened my eyes to new techniques. The use of colours and figures to help engage your target audience, unfortunately, they do not do this in the most ethical way. As a young designer in the current age, you have to be extremely thoughtful on how ethical you are and who you may affect.

Regarding my own design in relation to this topic, I have learnt quite a lot. The first being how to use certain elements to increase the effectiveness of my work. I want to use the methods previous designers have used but for the better, not to mislead the consumer. We are in the age of people not caring about the effects their work may have as long as they sell the item or service, they only care about the financial benefits.

Whilst researching into cigarette advertising it makes you wonder, did they know the health effects or were they aware but decided to ignore it as there was a huge amount of money to be made? I feel that is the case with a lot of advertising, whether it is body shaming or an unnecessary want for the product. They make you feel bad about yourself and promote a product that you think you need but that is only down to how they have made you feel in the advertisement.

Early designs are very different to modern advertisement designs, they used to contain more written information and be extremely busy. Modern designs have imagery that can have hidden messages or have a deeper meaning than what you may see at first. This is something that I have learnt and used in my own work more and more, you have to make sure that you are up to date with any design trends. You also see more use of typography and imagery combined in modern design, as a multiple exposure effect compared to the older methods used in advertisements. I have found myself using these methods in my own work, not always intentionally. I am so used to seeing modern design elements used, to me they have become the norm.

In conclusion, the research into this topic has taught me that the main objective of advertising throughout the 20th Century up until the present day remains unchanged. Yet how we advertise has changed, the different methods and techniques. Whether it was the unknown harm of cigarettes or the companies hiding it, cigarette advertisements have changed from unethical to ethical.

Word Count – 2092 Bibliography Chapman, S. (1996). British Medical Bulletin : The ethics of tobacco advertising and advertising bans. Available from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f494/f5d7a08b5370f2b34afc80affcf6e37fa03e.pdf Date accessed; 27/3/2018 Dyer, G. (1982). Advertising as Communication (Studies in Culture and Communication) : Routledge Garfield, S. (2005). The Guardian : The man who saved a million lives : Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/apr/24/smoking.medicineandhealth Date accessed; 2/4/18 Hayko,G .(2010). Effects of Advertising on Society : A Literary Review Available from: https://hilo.hawaii.edu/campuscenter/hohonu/volumes/documents/Vol08x16EffectsofAdvertisingonSociety.pdf Date accessed: 21/3/18 McQuerrey (2018), L. (2018). The positive effects of advertising. Available from; http://smallbusiness.chron.com/positive-effects-advertising-24688.html Date accessed; 22/3/18 Fletcher, W. (2010). Advertising: A Very Short Introduction : Oxford University Press

Figure 1 – https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/244249979761651087/ Figure 2 - http://tobacco.stanford.edu/tobacco_main/images.php?token2=fm_st001.php&token1=fm_img0002.php&theme_file=fm_mt001.php&theme_name=Doctors%20Smoking Figure 3 – http://www.grayflannelsuit.net/blog/celebrity-smokes-a-gallery-of-star-powered-cigarette-ads Figure 4 – https://www.smh.com.au/news/world/yabba-dabba-dont-flintstones-and-other-cartoons-stub-out-smoking/2006/08/22/1156012541220.html

Nick Rix

Design Context and Analysis Essay

In what ways could advertising or branding be said to be a benefit or a disadvantage to society? Discuss with particular reference to graphic design.