I wrote this last week for Women's Studies Class...
1. What is the advertisement trying to sell?
Cigarettes. A specifically designed cigarette, slimmer and longer and one might presume milder to appeal to women in general and the newly liberated women.
2. What adjectives would you use to describe the woman in the advertisement? Slim, sexy, slender, stylish, fashionable, attractive, modern, athletic, "liberated," outgoing,
3. Can you imagine a man appearing in an ad in a similar position? Why? Why not? No! The male equivalent is the Marlboro Man: rugged, strong, individualist.
4. Who is the ad targeting? The ad targets the "new woman" of the 1970s and 80s. The ads (in general, there were many variations) is telling us we have come a long way from the time when woman had to sneak behind the barn to smoke. Women now had the right and privilege to increase their chances to develop lung cancer and heart disease on an equal footing with men.
How can you tell? The advertising slogan "You've come along way, baby" and the image of the slim, fashionable woman tells it all.
5. What is this ad saying, implying or promising? The ad is telling women that they can celebrate their new found liberation by smoking a cigarette designed for women. It is implying that by smoking Viriginia Slims one can be like the woman in the ad: slim, attractive and fashionable.
6. Does the ad perpetuate or challenge sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, ageism?
The ad perpetuates sexism by implying that a woman can help achieve sexual freedom by consuming a dangerous product. It assumes women are stupid (or at least gullible)that we would "buy" such nonsense. In the same way that the Marlboro Man represents machismo, the Virginia Slim woman represents a hetero-normative image of an ideally feminine hip woman of the era. The ad targets middle class, (and if I recall) white women, thereby perpetrating classism and racism. (Other cigarette brands such as Kools targeted African-Americans)
7. What feelings is the ad trying to create? Do you feel it is effective? Why or why not?
The ad is trying to say, Hey look at me, I am hip, stylish and independent and can do whatever men can do and more. I am equal. I am liberated. Even though intellectually the ad is absurd from a presentist point of view, the brand was very effective. And count me among the "stupid" or "gullible" ones, as I fell for similar advertising but I smoked Kools for a while, like many of my African-American cool friends ( I was, for a time, a back -up singer in an otherwise all-black soul band) Later, I switched to Benson and Hedges Menthol Light which also targeted women. I am not sure how many women this convinced to start smoking but for women who already smoked, these ads gave "liberated women" a chance to express our freedom by adopting this brand. The marketers were brilliant in that they designed the cigarette in a way that observers could tell that women were smoking the brand and that women by doing so were announcing their liberation to the world.
8. What are some possible effects on young girls and women of constantly seeing images like these? What about effects on young boys and men?
Up until the 1960s, cigarettes were advertised as diet aids and beneficial to one's health. (I have done papers and speeches on this. Ads claimed that certain brands aided digestion and advised smokers to reach for a cigarette instead of a snack. One ad even depicted an obese non-smoker contrasted with athletic smoker running in a track event. Up until the late sixties, professional athletes such as Mickey Mantle endorsed cigarette brands.) The slim figure portrayed in this ad is one of the many millions that young women and girls see that not only convinces them to smoke but also leads to diseases such as anorexia and bulimia. Men receive the message that slender women such as depicted in the ad are the most desirable.
9. Connect your response explicitly to Jean Kilbourne's article, "The More you Subtract, the More You Add': cutting Girls Down to Size" (231). Quote Kilbourne in your response.
Although this ad does not specifically dose not promote cigarettes, as earlier ads did, as a means to physical fitness, the ad implies that smoking this brand might lead one to becoming like the model who appears to be engaging in modern dance.
