Tobacco companies sell more than cigarettes; they use fashion to promote their brands, said Dr. Alan Blum, director of The University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society (CSTS), housed within the College of Community Health Sciences.
Blum, the Gerald Leon Wallace, MD, Endowed Chair in Family Medicine with CCHS, released a new online exhibition titled “Wear a Cigarette Today!…Clothes to die for.” He said the exhibition shows how cigarette companies expanded beyond traditional advertising into clothing and fashion to keep their brands visible.
In recent decades, advertising bans and public smoking restrictions have limited how tobacco companies can promote their products. Blum said companies responded by expanding into clothing lines, licensing agreements, and retail partnerships with department stores and fashion brands to keep their logos and imagery in public view. Branded apparel, including jackets, hats and accessories, allowed companies to bypass traditional advertising limits by turning consumers into walking advertisements, while in-store promotions and fashion spreads reinforced brand identity without directly marketing cigarettes, Blum said.
The exhibition traces how tobacco marketing linked cigarettes to style and appearance, promoting smoking as part of a desirable lifestyle – spanning from Victorian era smoking jackets to later efforts by brands such as Marlboro, Camel and Virginia Slims to present smoking as fashionable. Blum said the strategy was designed to position cigarettes as an accessory rather than a health risk.
One exhibit highlight is a 1983 Vogue magazine spread featuring a six-page advertisement created by cigarette maker Lorillard and Bloomingdale’s department store chain. The promotion for Satin cigarettes presents smoking as a luxury accessory and shows how tobacco companies align themselves with high-end fashion to reach consumers.
The exhibit also includes an interview with Dr. Ivan Marković, a lecturer at Durham University in England. He discusses how smoking related clothing evolved over time, from smoking jackets for men to dressing gowns for women.
Efforts to challenge these marketing tactics are featured in the exhibit, which also highlights the work of Doctors Ought to Care, a physicians’ activist group that uses humor and parody to expose tobacco industry strategies. The group’s work shows how branded clothing could turn consumers into walking advertisements.
International opposition is also included in the exhibition, with information about how organizations in Sweden and global consumer groups have worked to document and push back against the marketing of tobacco branded clothing.
Wear a Cigarette Today, designed by Bryce Callahan, web developer and strategy specialist with CCHS, is part of the Center’s collection of more than 40 online exhibitions, available at https://csts.ua.edu/exhibitions/.