40 Gorgeous Vintage Tobacco Advertisements
Posted by Andrew Lindstrom / Lists / February 11th, 2009
Tobacco advertising has got to be one of the most morally questionable industries out there.
It seems these advertisers would stop at nothing to exploit every possible resource – all in name of peddle their wares. A few victims of tobacco advertisements include celebrities, doctors, children, the military, Christmas, nostalgia, cartoon characters, and of course everyone’s favorite – sex. I suppose all in all not much has changed.
But in all their morally questionable motives these advertisers did manage to create some beautiful works of art. This is why I’ve assembled my favorite 40 vintage tobacco advertisements for your enjoyment.
It should go without saying that these are for inspirational purposes only. We here at WellMedicated do not condone the messages of any of these ads – we merely think they’re purrrdy.
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Yo, I'm Andrew Lindstrom. I am a freelance web designer based in Vancouver, Canada. When not geeking out over design, I'm likely geeking out over film, technology or pretending to play the guitar.
Ahh vintage advertising, how i love you!
Awesome collection dude.
Ur post is cool …. I come form twitter..
These are impressive not only for the designs but the slogans (the Tipalet ad about halfway down the list is particularly interesting). A great collection from a (thankfully) bygone era.
Fantastic collection!
Ad of today just don’t pack the same punch, “More Doctors Smoke Camels” , that’s pretty powerful statement for it’s time.
Thanks for the comments guys, I’m glad you liked the post.
I agree it’s insane some of the things these advertisements got away with saying. The majority of these would never make it to print today.
Great List
I like these so much I’d like to buy them. Where can I get them?
A great ( and scary ) collection. It certainly explains a few things about americans … ( at least to me )
@ John Baines – I’m not sure where you can buy them. These particular selections were scanned from old magazines. Click the image of the ad to see the original source I used.
@smallDickNinja – Exactly what DOES this collection say to you about Americans? You think they were the only ones making outrageously ignorant claims about the safety of tobacco?
“More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette”, classic. Awesome post, great tag lines.
Everytime I smoke, my T Zone always tells me T is for taste… and also throat… possibly also tar…
Good post! It has inspired me to smoke!
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Really great collection, it’s amazing how many of these would now be perceived as ad parodies.
[...] tal el que dice: “Más doctores fuman Camels que ningún otro cigarro”, más acá | [wellmedicated.com] [...]
This was great. I’m going to appreciate my cigarette break so much more today. =D
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Great ads, especially the Eve cigarettes are so lovely with their package and the detail on the filter. Those were the times
I think the smokers are discriminated today, no more ads, no more smoking places-nobody sees the pollution caused by cars and factories, but god forbid that you light up a cigarette and suffocate the public on a 100 meters surrounding area..pff.
great post
this is not what I needed to see after just quitting smoking, but great post all the same!
Love these mate. The typography is what impresses me most. If you havent seen it already, check out “Thank You For Smoking” the opening sequence of that is all made from the old cig-packets, design and typography, some really gorgeous fonts in it.
OMG. The lady in the first add (The Philip Morris add), she is a babe. Defenetly latina. We are the ones with flavor “muy caliente”. LOL
The Doctor ad is the best. What a cool collection.
Blow in her face – that’s the best I guess ;). Btw you can check http://blackmoondev.com/retro-cigarettes-ads/ – there are some more.
[...] buddy Andrew over at Well Medicated did a cool post that showcases 40 Gorgeous Vintage Tobacco Advertisements. If you haven’t yet visited the Well Medicated blog, it’s a good one to add to your [...]
Do you guys have a recommendation section, i’d like to suggest some stuff
real cool way to sell something. Now is going to be really difficult to see something like this.
Exelente recopilación. Un gran trabajo. Nostálgias !!
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those of you who have perspective, go to this months Vogue..
find the dunhill ad…tell me your response…smokers are becoming an elite group, if you have money and power you can smoke, WHAT!
[...] 40 Gorgeous Vintage Tobacco Advertisements [...]
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This is great…especially for us (evil) smokers:)
Truly killer vintage ads post. The “Doctor” series slays me.
Man, do I ever hope Reagan sends me a pack of Chesterfields for Christmas….
Great list, I love vintage design. The Santa one cracks me up– that would never fly today.
[...] 40 Gorgeous Vintage Tobacco Advertisements (via Doktorblog) [...]
It’s weird to see tobacoo adds after so many years they were banished from our lives. That one which talks about the doctors are paticularly diabolical. But some pictures are really beautifull.
Hugs from Brazil.
[...] Via: Wellmedicated [...]
they might be snapshots from a more ignorant era, but it was also less hysterical and stupid. smokers nowadays are treated as criminals just because of this silly global war on tobacco based upon exaggerations and misinformation.
Really nice selection, I had to laugh when I saw the advert for Timalet “Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere”… A more realistic message for this day and age would be “Blow in her face and give her lung cancer”.
Great post! Got a good laugh at the ” More doctors smoke Camels….. ” That’s awesome! @ resina…. Excellent point.
none of those will be publish in this era
Great Post!
“Blow in her face…” were just HILARIOUS! So very wrong in so many ways… Still laughing from it!!
Wow, I love vintage and your list of tobacco ad campaigns are way too cool! keep it up.
reagan!!!!
You have an excellent eye for beauty and art
no school like old school
That’s a really good collection. Great website btw. Cheers.
smoking sucks like the people who smoke it.
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“a (thankfully) bygone era.”
**************
Unless you lived in that “bygone era”, I’d keep my yap shut if I were you. I was there. Things were a helluva lot better than they are now. Folks don got all sissified nowadays. Buncha loser pansies.
Speak not of that which you know nothing about.
[...] May 25, 2009 in Uncategorized via wellmedicated.com [...]
Verdaderamente son preciosos todos. Esta es una muestra del poder de la publicidad: Es capaz de disfrazar la muerte de la mas feliz de las vidas.
[...] uns dies adgjuntava les millors campanyes anti tabac, avui adjunto un recull d’anuncis vintage corresponents a una època on encara no es tenia prou consciència del nociu que podia arribar a [...]
reagan!!!!
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I’ve been having problems subscribing to this feed. It lets me subscribe and it loads in the rss reader program I use (which is netnewswire for mac) but it’s not showing new posts. A few duplicates too. Am I using the wrong url perhaps?
Great collection.
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I can really recommend smoking e-cigarettes to try to quit smoking! Me and my wife are trying to stop using ecigs.
Classic tobacco cigarettes are so pass
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Love the sight! The ads bring back many memories. These ads reflect the times in which they were set, and while they are archaic and humorous to our age, I can only wonder what advertising will look like in 40 years? BTW, where are Winston & Marlboro? Thanks!
Do you have any of the vintage cigarette ad videos? I used to have a good one of the flintstones for winston before my hard drive bit the dust.
[...] http://wellmedicated.com/lists/40-gorgeous-vintage-tobacco-advertisements/ [...]
Amazing. Such pleasing graphics, such deadly deception. Makes me want to puke.
No wonder right wing chumps like John (Marion) Wayne and Ronald Reagan hawked this crap.
Great collection! Love the designs and slogans.
Crazy to think what would happen if this type of advertising was bought back to life in this day and age.
Love these. What a hoot. I’ve taken some of the ads here and done my own thing. Welcome to take a look.
http://saltyessentials.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-cigarettes-really-are-good-for-you.html
Its amazing to see what kind of advertising was done back in the day. I remember seeing some of these ones when they first came out. Oh how we thought they were just the cats meow.
Ive long since stopped smoking cigarettes- i used to be a camel man actually- but i still do love my Cigars every once in a while. Grab a Cuban and light it up my friends. Best cigars ever.
Really great list, mm m
These are fantastic! They brought back memories of bygone days. My father smoking cigars. My friend lighting up a Craven A – prescribed by her doctor no less! What naive times we lived in. What a shame the ends did not justify the means.
God, I do smoke…
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Is your throat sore? Put down that antiseptic spray dummy and buy a pack of cigarettes! Don’t be a dufus. Tobacco — for your health!
Some of the marketing in these ads are nothing short of comedy, almost as “factual” as those”beauty” product ads one television.
The designs are great, the women in the even cuter and the ads with the doctors in them were very clever but surprised me. The one with the mother and son too was a bit disturbing at best also. But great collection, very colorful and classy
I liked the artwork on the Phillip Morris ads, and the one for Tipalet – “Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere”, lol! Nice collection
I want to smoke now … damn these ads still work lol
That’s the art of advertising. Enticing people eventhough the product presents vices, addiction and will not benefit good health.
Andrew this post has a great collection, i truly enjoyed going thru them.
smoking..uhhh…so horrible for you
“More doctors smoke camels” That would be banned in every country today!
Fantastic collection of advertisements! Particularly like the blow in her face one……
Awesome collection of ads but scary nonetheless! I am an eighties child, so you can imagine my wide eyed open mouthed look of shock! Good fun to look at anyway, thanks
hmmm, the good ol’days when cigarettes didn’t hurt anybody
this is not what I needed to see after just quitting smoking, but great post all the same!
Those ads are ridiculously outrageous.. I mean to think they were advertised like that all over the place, it explains why so many people still smoke. If cigarettes are allowed, marijuana should be allowed no less. I don’t smoke neither, but just because you can’t tax a product doesn’t make it OUTRAGEOUSLY harmful and to go to jail for.
Nice Article – thanks a lot!
it’s the most awesome site ever. thanks for categorising the ads.
Wow these old ads are fun to see again. I remember seeing some of them in magazines and newspapers. The good ole days.
Great job Andrew Lindstrom. For years I had 2 ads framed and in my house…both were ‘Doctor’ endorsed ads. one from Camel cigs and the other Lucky Strike…both claiming ‘More Doctors smoke our brand….’based on nation wide surveys etc… the Irony and sadness from them. Good job Andrew.
the question to ask is Did they know and when did they KNOW it RE: These seductive adverts.