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Jennifer Molen
Connie Douglas
Writing 1101
4 November 2014
Evolution of Tobacco Use
In this paper the researcher will explore the use of tobacco. The methods the researcher used
were observation on two different occasions. The first was a Sunday afternoon and the second was a
Monday afternoon. The researcher sat in the Lynch-Wallis courtyard and observed for about an hour
each occasion. This observation was covert and the subjects were approximately twenty feet from the
researcher. Numerous notes were taken down about everything that was observed, what the subjects
were wearing, saying, doing, things of that matter. The researcher made special notes of the race and
gender of each subject and made connections between the two different occasions. These connections
helped decide what discourse community was going to be focused on by the researcher. The discourse
community that the researcher decided to research further was smokers. First, the researcher will
discuss the history of tobacco, second, tobacco advertisements, and third, race and gender of smokers.
The earliest introduction of tobacco was in 600 AD through cave drawings by the Mayan
Indians. In 1612, the first American colony in Jamestown started growing tobacco which was their
main source of income. It was not until the 1800's when people began to use tobacco for other reasons
besides income (Packer 14.) Some people chewed tobacco while others smoked it in a pipe or a handrolled cigarette or cigar (Rafferty 25.) In 1865, the first commercial cigarettes were produced in
Raleigh, North Carolina by Washington Duke. These cigarettes were sold to soldiers at the end of the
Civil War. Throughout the 1800's, cigarettes were hand-rolled until a man named James Bonsack
invented a machine that made cigarettes. This machine was invented in 1881 and was the cause of
widespread cigarette smoking because it was easier and faster to produce cigarettes. Bonsack started a

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business with Duke's son who went by the name Buck. Together they built a factory that produced ten
million cigarettes in their first year and rose to one billion cigarettes five years later. Duke of Durham
was the first brand of cigarettes which came with baseball cards, trying to attract baseball lovers. Buck
and his father, Washington, started the American Tobacco company which was the first tobacco
company in the United States (Brandt 19.)
The American Tobacco Company was the largest company until the early 1900's. By then, there
were several competitors making cigarettes and in 1902, Philip Morris came out with Marlboro, a well
known brand (Packer 32.) Cigarette companies sold cigarettes mainly to men until World War I (WWI)
and World War II (WWII). Cigarettes were given to soldiers overseas for free and since production of
cigarettes were rising, they were being sold to women as well. Due to WWII, independence increased
for women and many of them went from being housewives to being working women of America
(Brandt.) On lunch breaks, many workers went out for a smoke and now that women were working,
they began smoking more (Burns 28.) By the 1940's, cigarette production rose to three hundred billion
per year. Most of these cigarettes went to the soldiers in the wars (Packer 37.) By 1964, there was a
little awareness of the high amounts of nicotine and tar, which causes cancer and because of this the
Surgeon General of the United States wrote about the dangers of smoking to raise awareness of the
dangers smoking caused. This report cause Congress to pass the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising
Act which stated that cigarette packs must have a label on the pack saying that they may be hazardous
to your health. The Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act encouraged producers to come out with a
new brand of cigarettes that contained lower amounts of nicotine and tar (Brandt 25.)
Since the 1980's, the government and private companies have taken actions that prohibit
smoking in public places. In 1990, the airlines prohibited people from smoking on flights that are less
than six hours. Another thing the government has done to decrease cigarette consumption is by
increasing taxes on cigarettes. It is also illegal to advertise cigarettes due to a law passed by Congress

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in 1971 (Packer 40.)
Advertisements, today, have dramatically changed since the 1950's. In the 50's, cigarettes were
the next big thing. Producers created advertisements to try to draw people into buying their cigarettes.
These advertisements made smoking look cool and drew people into the social setting of smoking. The
advertisements in the 1950's focused predominately on white women. The message these
advertisements were trying to portray was that smoking was sexy. In the researcher's observations the
researcher saw groups of friends going out and smoking together. The researcher observed them sitting
close together laughing and joking. They seemed very comfortable with each other. This created a
social setting that advertisements in the 1950's portrayed. Advertisements try and promote a social
setting of fitting in and being a part of the cool crowd could happen for you if you smoke cigarettes.
Another observation that was made was one of the guys was wearing a red hat. The fact that the
researcher was drawn to his red hat is related to advertising. The researcher also took notes on the types
of clothes everyone was wearing to see if there was a connection between fashion styles. In
advertisements, advertisers try to catch attention of viewers by using bright colors, a minimum of
wording, or provocative imaging. Also, the researcher made an observation that some of the guys
smoking had skateboards. Media, another form of advertisement, portrays that skateboarders are
smokers.
Advertisements have changed over the years and now it is illegal in the United States to
advertise smoking; however, the media will always find ways to, under the table, advertise smoking.
Take the television (TV) show Mad Men; for example Mad Men is set in the 1960's in New York City.
The characters work in an advertising company, which is where the name mad men originated. The
show focuses on stories of the smaller firms in New York City. Donald Draper, creator of the company,
is the main source of these stories. Draper's creative brilliance comes from his troubled childhood

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which he is very picky about who knows about his childhood. His hard childhood shaped him into the
man he is as an advertiser. Draper has this passion to sell products but as well as sell himself to the
world. The confidence Draper heavily portrays also allows people to see his insecurities through his
vices, womanizing, drinking, and smoking (Mad Men). Even though America does not put smoking
advertisements on billboards anymore, media plays a huge part in advertising smoking.
During the observations, the researcher noticed that on day one there was one girl and three
guys who were smoking and on day two, all eight people who were smoking were males. This posed a
question; is the smoking industry predominately male? During both World Wars, most of the soldiers
were male and cigarettes were given to soldiers for free in the wars. Also, in the 1900's tobacco
companies sold cigarettes mainly to men (Packer 56.) Another observation that was made was the race
of all the smokers was predominately Caucasian. During the 1950's, most of the advertisements
pictured white male and female smokers. Also, before the freedom of slavery, even though slaves
worked in tobacco fields, tobacco was accessible to the Caucasian owners. Just like the World Wars,
cigarettes were given to soldiers during the Civil War. Most of the soldiers in the Civil War were
Caucasian; however, there were African Americans who fought in the War (Packer 58.) During the
beginning of the tobacco industry, smoking had a negative connotation amongst African Americans and
Native Americans (Brandt.) This is another reason why smoking tobacco gravitates to Caucasians.
One thing the researcher tends to do when observing is to ask questions. Something that was
observed was two groups of people smoking in the same area who would occasionally look at each
other but not say or do anything. This made the researcher question whether or not smoking is a
competition to be cool or fit into society. Advertising plays a huge role in telling us how we should
act and what we should do. Advertisements feed into society's desire to be the best and fit in.

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Works Cited
Brandt, Allan M. The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That
Defined America. New York: Basic Books, 2007. Print.
Burns, Eric. The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 2007. Print.
Mad Men: Writ. Matthew Weiner. Dir. David Carbonara. Weiner Bros. 2007. Television Series.
Packer, George. The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America. , 2013. Print.
Rafferty, Sean M, and Rob Mann. Smoking and Culture: The Archaeology of Tobacco Pipes in Eastern
North America. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2004. Print.