The Changing Character of American Cigarette Advertising: Content Analysis Findings

This paper reviews all published cigarette advertising content analyses to identify common results. American cigarette advertising has become more voluminous, more visual rather than verbal, more inclined to show “pictures of health,” more inclined than other products to show people, inclined to feature young looking models, and to use themes of independence and autonomy that appeal to the young. The likely consequence is that the audience experience serves to bias judgments of the young about the proportion of adults who smoke, about the social acceptance of smokers, about the healthfulness of smoking, and about the independence characteristic of nicotine addicts.