Changes in the Visual Imagery of Cigarette Ads, 1954-1986

This study provides a descriptive account of how the visually oriented content of cigarette ads changed over three health and smoking event eras: 1954-1970, the pre-broadcast ban era; 1971-1983, the post-broadcast ban era; and 1984-1986, the "anti-smoking ideology" era. In general, support was found for the hypothesized changes in visual imagery of cigarette ads published during the post-ban and "anti-smoking ideology" eras. while model activity portrayals varied somewhat by magazine audience orientation, models engaged in individualistic and recreational activities were rather universally employed. Erotic/romantic portrayals were no more likely in women's publications than in other magazines. No relationship between the median age of the audience and the frequency of cigarette ads per issue was found.