11-28-89 I must be dense, because it just now dawned on me after years of exposure to their advertisements why cigarette companies associate their products with slimness. One of the main brands in today’s cigarette market is Virginia Slims, manufactured by the Philip Morris Company. The target audience for this brand is obviously women, as evidenced by the pictures of women in the ads and the fact that the company sponsors women’s tennis. There’s even a Virginia Slims tennis circuit. What I just realized is that the company is sending a subliminal message to women. It says “We know you want to get and stay slim, and you’ve heard the horror stories about how people who give up smoking gain weight; so buy our product and keep the weight off”. It’s no accident that the most recent ads for Virginia Slims cigarettes tout the “Superslim” nature of the product and depict a rail-thin, fashionably dressed woman holding one. She wears silky, loose-fitting clothes and has a devil-may-care grin on her face. “Who cares about cancer?”, she appears to be saying. “I have a figure to be concerned about. I have men to attract. That’s what’s important to me.”
If I’m right about this, then the Philip Morris Company is intentionally exploiting the prevalent female fear of obesity in order to addict women to nicotine and get them to consume its products over a long period of time. (By “exploitation” I mean taking advantage of someone’s weakness. In this case, the weakness is the fear of, or revulsion to, obesity.) That’s what’s objectionable, right there. If the company used rational persuasion, I wouldn’t mind, but of course that’s not likely to work. Imagine the following advertisement: “Our product may cause addiction to nicotine, and ultimately lung cancer, but it’ll also help you stay slim. Since you already want to stay slim (we didn’t give you that goal), we think you should buy and use our product. It’ll maximize your happiness.” The idea would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic. Women should wise up and resist such degrading sales tactics.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 