Enticing the New Lad: Masculinity as a Product of Consumption in Tobacco Industry—Developed Lifestyle Magazines

We demonstrate how an industry promoted and defined masculinity as a product of consumption. We analyze previously-secret tobacco industry documents and the content of two tobacco industry—produced magazines, Unlimited (from Philip Morris, makers of Marlboro) and Real Edge (from Brown & Williamson, makers of Lucky Strike), which were distributed to millions of young adult men from the late 1990s and early 2000s to promote their tobacco brands. We find that Unlimited and Real Edge exhibited similar themes previously reported to typify ‘‘new lad’’ magazines, but with risky behaviors in the forefront. We build upon the existing masculinity literature by providing insight into how corporations study and interpret cultural constructions of masculinity, and then use masculinity as both a vehicle and a product of consumption.