For a century, the tobacco industry invented some of the most powerful marketing moves in history. Women's freedom, the cowboy's masculinity, medical endorsement, Hollywood glamour, sport and music: nothing has been spared. Understanding how they sold us the cigarette is also taking back the wheel on what we ended up believing.

1929: Bernays, Freud's nephew, invents modern propaganda

In 1929, the tobacco industry has a problem: half the population — women — barely smokes, and smoking in public is still taboo. Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and inventor of 'public relations', is brought in by American Tobacco (Lucky Strike).

His solution is genius and immoral. He stages a media coup: at the Easter Parade in New York on Fifth Avenue, he marches dozens of carefully selected young women who pull out their cigarettes in unison in front of pre-alerted press photographers.

The framing, calibrated by Bernays: these are 'Torches of Freedom' — torches of liberty, in reference to the Statue of Liberty. The cigarette becomes a symbol of women's emancipation, two years after American women won the right to vote.

The 1930s-40s: the 'medical seal of approval'

Tobacco marketing massively mobilises the figure of the doctor as a safety guarantor. Typical slogans:

These campaigns were legally fragile but ferociously effective. They delayed collective awareness of the dangers of tobacco by several decades.

1954: Marlboro Man, or how to masculinise a women's cigarette

One of the great pivots in advertising history. Marlboro was born in 1924 as a women's cigarette, with the slogan 'Mild as May' and a filter 'Ivory Tips to protect the lips' (so as not to stain lipstick).

In 1954, after the first studies on lung cancer, Philip Morris wants a radical repositioning. The agency Leo Burnett creates the Marlboro Man: a lonely cowboy, cigarette in his mouth, in the grand landscapes of the American West.

The result: in a few years Marlboro becomes the best-selling cigarette brand in the world — a position it still holds in 2026.

The 1960s-70s: targeting women and young people

With Marlboro repositioned for men, the industry creates brands dedicated to women. The most famous: Virginia Slims (1968), with its slogan 'You've come a long way, baby' — a direct hijack of the rhetoric of women's liberation.

1990s-2000s: the wall of lawsuits

In the United States, the 1990s is the decade of the great lawsuits. Several states sue the tobacco firms to recover health-care costs. Two key moments:

• 1994: seven CEOs of tobacco firms swear an oath before US Congress and swear that nicotine is not addictive. A few months later, leaked internal documents prove they had known the opposite for decades.

• 1998: the Master Settlement Agreement: the tobacco firms agree to pay 206 billion dollars over 25 years and to drop certain practices (Joe Camel, giant billboards, sport sponsorship).

This is also when the Tobacco Papers project takes off: 80+ million pages of internal archives put online, still a reference for understanding the industry.

2010s: plain packaging, end of visible marketing

Myth vs reality

2020s: the return through influencers

The industry has not vanished — it has mutated. A 2018-2019 Reuters / Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids investigation documented more than 100 campaigns on social media, run by Philip Morris International, BAT, JTI and Imperial Brands. Influencers are paid to post content with their favourite brand — without always declaring the partnership.

Hashtags used: #RedIsHere (Marlboro), #LikeUs (Lucky Strike), #FreedomMusic (Winston), #DecideTonight (Marlboro). Always selling the same promise — freedom, identity, belonging — on new platforms.

The marketing of vape: a new chapter

With strict tobacco regulation, the industry channels its investment into the vape and nicotine pouches. Sweet flavours, colourful packaging, a young, creative narrative. Several countries have already restricted these new media (puff bans in France/UK in 2025).

In United Kingdom

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