Tobacco industry strategies to build and

maintain markets among women and girls

Margaretha Haglund
Tobacco Control Expert
ThinkTank Tobacco Facts
Sweden
Box 738, 101 35 Stockholm. Besksadress: Klara stra Kyrkogata 10. www.tobaksfakta.se

Totally unacceptable in most countries 100 years

ago now Europe is the WHO Region with the
biggest market grow. How come?

Box 738, 101 35 Stockholm. Besksadress: Klara stra Kyrkogata 10 www.tobaksfakta.se

Very few women smoked until end of the 1920s

They dont really know what to do with the smoke.
Neither do they know how to hold their cigarettes
properly. Actually they make a mess of the whole
performance.
A hotel manager in New York 1919 to a New York Times
reporter about women who smoked

In the 1920s the tobacco industry discovered a

huge potential market for cigarettes; the women
It will be like opening
a new gold mine in our
front yard!
Mr Hill, President of the
American Tobacco
Company in 1928,

The father of PR Edward Bernays was consulted

to create the cigarette market among women
Easter Sunday 1929 in New
York where American
Tobacco hired 10 young
women to smoke in the
streets.

The torches for freedom march broke the social stigma that women
could not smoke in the streets!

Women were even trained to smoke!

Also from the beginning the Tobacco

Industry used Gender-Based Analysis
The tobacco industry
always looks at its
market in two groups,
male and female, and in
its diversity (e.g age,
ethnicity, socioeconomic status), incl
in its product
development and
marketing around the
world

The first advertising campaign targeting

women in U.S 1925
Reach for a Lucky instead
of a sweet was the slogan
The campaign also
included activities on how
women should eat
Eg. hotels were urged to
add cigarettes to their
dessert list

More examples from 1920s and 1930s

Even small children were used in tobacco ads to

promote smoking among women
The Born gentle smoke-campaign from the 1950s

The Leo Burnett slogans were eg. : Can you afford not to smoke Mummy?
,Mummy before you argue you should light up a cigarette

After the U.S the tobacco industry has invaded

country after country with the same marketing
methods

U.K in 1930s

Sweden in 1950s Lithuania in 1990s

Ukraine in 2000s

Russia in 2000s

Summary of the marketing mix targeting

women
The same strategy has been used in country
after country with the following
marketing mix:
Promoting images designed to appeal
specifically to women
Promoting new brands/products which are
specifically aimed at women
Women targeting promotions and brand
stretching
Using womens magazines to direct
advertising at women

Sweden in the 1960s

Todays main types of promotional activities

Massmedia advertising and

sponsorship of cultural and
sporting events
Point of sale promotional
activities in shops and kiosks
Pack-design to appeal especially
to women and girls
Free distribution of tobacco
products
Brand-strechning non-tobacco
products with tobacco brand
names
Internet promotion
New products

Promotional strategy: Women focused

massmedia campaigns when a ban is not in
place

Direct advertising now banned in most CIS

countries The example Russia before 2014

Promotional strategy: Pack design - The

female tobacco brands

Russia

Source:
Empower 2015

Now spred all over Europe!

Georgia examples of female cigarette

packs now on the market

From 2016

Strategy: New products/product

development targeting women
E-cigarettes

Hokkah and Snus (oral

tobacco)

The tobacco industry is also using other

strategies eg. CSR to seduce women
The example: Philip Morris own Empower
Women!
Eg. in 2012 PM; sponsored 15
domestic-violence projects in 10
European countries: Estonia,
France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania,
Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain
and Switzerland) to a total amount
of almost US$ 460 000.

Are there examples from

CIS countries?

Women and tobacco The gloomy results of the

tobacco industries activities targeting women
Europe is the WHO Region with the biggest market growth in
female smoking
Although a serious situation; less women now smoke,
19 %, than in 2005, 25 %
Big differences in between west, north, south and east Europe
3 typical smoking patterns
- Nordic and Western countries; Little or no difference in between
female and male smoking
- Central an Southern Europe; Higher male smoking buth also high
female smoking and still rising
- CIS countries (except Russia) High prevalence of male smoking and
rather low rate of female smoking but increasing
Source: Empower, 2015

Cond. Women and Tobacco in Europe; Some

gloomy facts!
In most countries: The younger the women are, the less
differences in between womens/girls and mens/boys
smoking
In countries where women smoking rates are low but high
for men womens involuntarily exposure to SHS is a severe
health risk for women

Source: Empower, 2015

Smoking prevalences among women and

men in CIS countries?
Estimates
2012

Male smoking
prevalence

Female
smoking prev.

Armenia

54,8

1,7

Azerbaijan

48,6

0,4

Belarus

49,4

11,0

Georgia

58,6

5,8

Kazakhstan

46,3

9,7

Kyrgyzstan

50,2

3,8

Moldova

44,6

5,4

Russia

60.3

22,5

Ukraine

51,4

14,4

Uzbekistan

25,9

1.

Source:Global Health Observatory data Respository from WHO/TFI web

No data available
from Tajikistan and
Turkmenistan

Which markets are the tobacco

industry now looking at?
In particular countries where
Womens disposable income is growing
Women are seeking emancipation
Health effects are still unknown by many women
Addiction to nicotine is underestimated incl not known
Gender sensitive programs do not exist or are rare
Tobacco industry can advertise its products without much of
restrictions. The more loopholes the better for them!

Margaretha Haglund

Implementation status of FCTC Article 13 :The

comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion
and sponsorship
Europe is behind other
WHO Regions in
implementing
comprehensive TAPS ban
Most neglected forms:
indirect bans e.g brand
stretchning, brand sharing,
CSR and contribution to
prevention campaigns and
appearance of tobacco
products in TV and/or
films

Most CIS countries have

banned tob adv on TV,
radio, in domestic
newspapers and at
billboards
No country have yet
introduced standardised
plain tobacco packs

Source: WHO&INWAT Empower 2015 and EHO Europ Tobacco Controlm Database 2016

Thank you!

WHO Europes Empower Women

My email address: margaretha.haglund@tobaksfakta.se