Kind of funny that years later people recommend candy and gum to help avoid smoking. How the tables have turned.

lol I'M toasted!

My mom started smoking in the 1950s on the advice of her doctor, who told her it would help her keep her weight down.

She quit, cold turkey [the only way, really, at the time] in 1967. Probably wouldn't be alive today if she'd kept going.

Of course smoking helps keep you slim -- how many people with lung cancer are able to gain weight?

Actually, the significant reduction in smoking rates over the past several decades is thought by many to be a factor in the small increase in average body adult weight (as well as the increase in average lifespan) during that same period.

Did anyone else notice that the earlier ads (above Virginia Slims) show figures that are fuller than the very very slender figures in the Virginia Slims ads? This series shows the shifting ideal weight expectations in U.S. society.

humbug I say. I've been smoking for over a year now (not very much mind you 2 a day at most) and I've gained weight.

Does anyone know if girls start smoking today with appetite suppression as an explicit motivation? I have heard women give that reason, but since most smokers start as teens, I don't know if that is part of the initial motivation.

I wonder why the woman on the diving board is wearing shoes.

The one with the male hurdler made me laugh -- yeah, if you're trying to keep in great athletic shape you maaaybe don't wanna take up smoking.

And, as you note, the later ads focus exclusively on women's slimness, but also my recollection of the time (1970s, early 1980s) is that the tobacco companies had discovered the "women vs. men" style of marketing and pitched it to the hilt.

"Virginia slims are the slimmer cigarettes made just for women. They're tailored slimmer to fit your hands and your lips."

Because that extra 0.5865 centimeters of diameter means the difference between a slim elegant smoking experience, and a ginormous flaming log that you can barely lift to your lady mouth. Emphasis on personalization; we created these for you, because you are special and precious.

Oddly enough, with men, it seems cigarette ads in that era promise wholesome masculinity, such as the Marlboro Man ads, or the Camel guy (before Joe Camel, the Magnum P.I.-looking guy who canoes, camps and rides motorcycles on the beach)

http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/2010/03/1978-ad-for-camel-cigarettes.html

http://indymotorspeedway.com/cigs/1980s.html

Of course, I also recall cigarette ads showing men doing less manly things, like playing tennis with their lady-friends (heteronormativity FTW) and perpetrating wacky hijinks at their friends' houses in the Hamptons. Actually, if I'm remembering correctly, cigarette ads with groups of people usually had only one person smoking, or none (like these: http://indymotorspeedway.com/cigs/1970s.html -- I guess the message, again, was smoking makes you special; or the advertisers didn't want to show a whole room of people smoking)

Side note: in the spirit of all things turning full circle, this ad features a miraculous cigarette that can be smoked by both men and women: http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/2010/01/1970-ad-for-lm-cigarettes.html