Sex, wealth, and power sell.  This concept isn’t new, its’ been around for generations and it’s one that advertising firms have long ago mastered.  The recent trend to feign shock over the use of ‘photoshopped’ sexual images within the millennial generation’s advertisements is falsely laying the blame of an age old problem at the wrong generation’s feet.  By looking at the “Cigarettes are Like Women…” ad, we can clearly see that as far back as the 1960s advertisers have attempted to lure in male consumers with underlying promises of wealth, power, and sex within brand messaging.   Although the “Cigarettes are Like Women…” ad is more blatant in its approach than is commonly seen today, the graphic artist did a masterful job of creating an advertisement that appealed to the male consumer of the 1960s.

The visual elements in the advertisement “Cigarettes are like women…” are uncluttered and used sparingly.  This was done in order to grab the viewing audience’s attention and communicate a message within seconds. This advertisement was placed in Time magazine in 1969.  The graphic artist clearly understood that he needed to capture the viewing audience’s attention within seconds, or he would lose them with the turn of a page.   

A picture of a well-dressed man smoking a cigarette with a beautiful woman draped off of his shoulder is the focal point of the image.  The picture of the couple is actually quite small, measuring approximately 3 inches in length by 2 inches in width.  Although the picture is small in size, it’s strategically located in the center of the page to capture the viewer’s immediate eye and attention.    The clean cut man is wearing what appears to be an expensive black suit jacket, white turtleneck, sunglasses with dark lenses, dress loafers, and dress pants.  He is standing with his arms crossed in a confident pose, looking away from the female who is draped upon is shoulder while he smokes a cigarette, that is casually hanging to the side of his lips.  Half of the man’s face is shaded, adding to his mystique.  The attractive man projects confidence, wealth, and power in both his stance and his appearance.  The female is adorned in a very short, white, sleeveless dress that contrasts perfectly with the black of the man’s jacket while at the same time complimenting his white turtleneck.  The female’s blonde head is resting upon the man’s shoulder while she clings to his shoulder and stares adoringly at him.  It’s clear upon first glance that she is his ‘woman’ and that he is in control.  The attractive couple is meant to make the viewer stop and question, ‘How did that man get that beautiful woman?’

After capturing the viewing audience’s attention with the question evoking image of the beautiful couple, the graphic artist pulls the viewer’s eyes up to the top of the page with two, seven syllable, bold type faced sentences in Arial Unicode MS font that is approximately 24 in size.  The sentences read “Cigarettes/ are like women./The best ones/ are thin and rich./”  Each sentence is centered and is given two lines, resulting in the main text appearing in a circular shape at the top of the page.  After reading the larger font the viewer naturally continues on to read the smaller font, which appears below it much like a stick pin with a ball top.  The intentionality of the stick pin shape is twofold.  First, it leads the viewer site line down, to take in the remaining half of the advertisement.  Additionally, I believe the graphic artist meant for the text to be a phallic symbol of a male penis in order to evoke a mental image of male virility.

 The leading site line takes us to an underlying visual element within the ad, the picture of the couple sitting atop the cigarette carton.  The angle of the cigarette carton, which is wider at the base than at the top, makes it seem like the cigarette pack is the path or roadway to the couple, who are perched on top of the pack.  This is meant to communicate to viewers that those who smoke these cigarettes will end up on top with power, wealth, and a beautiful partner.  In order for the cigarettes not to be lost in the rest of the visual elements, the graphic artist sized the pack of cigarettes to take up the bottom half of the page and made the background a plain white. Additionally, the carton is wider at the base than at the top, appearing to point up or lead to the couple.  

Several repetitions, both in text and shapes, exist throughout the image.  At the end of the site line we see the name of the cigarettes repeated twice, once on the packaging and once in the text line “Silva Thins are thin and rich.”  The word ‘thin’ appears in the image six times and the word ‘light’ appears three times.  Clearly the artist wanted the viewers to associate the cigarettes with being thin and light in both appearance and taste.  The word ‘rich’ appears in the image four times.  This coupled with the use of black and white coloring and clothing the models in expensive clothing leads the viewers to believe that wealthy, elite individuals smoke this brand of cigarettes.  The artist pushed the thin and light message further by having models with very long legs, elongating the package of cigarettes, and using narrow font.

The use of only two colors, black and white, was very intentional.  First, the use of black and white added to the rich theme the advertisers were going for.  Next, one could see the use of black and white to mean it’s as ‘obvious as black and white’ that you should buy these cigarettes.  Finally, the use of black and white helped focus the attention of the viewer upon the content without distracting them from the message that the artist desired to communicate.  The use of blank space in the background and minimal visual images made that which was included pack a bigger punch.

During the 1960s, the underlying ethos was blatantly sexist and offensive in nature.  Ads were commonly much like this one which objectified and stereotyped women.  However, at that time there was little consciousness about the fact that it might not be a good idea or offensive.  Within advertising and television men were portrayed as individuals who were after sex, power, and wealth and women were seen as needy and clingy airheads whose sole purpose in life was to find a rich and powerful man to cling to.  As a result, although the “Cigarettes are like Women…” advertisement image did raise the negative attention of some feminist organizations, it was largely accepted by its viewers.

With the sparing use of images, black and white coloring, repetition of shapes and text, centering, proportioning of images, and balance of space, the artist was able to grab the viewer’s attention and quickly communicate a message to the viewer before the page was turned.  The artist did a masterful job of communicating an idea by using the age-old truism; sex, power, and wealth sell.  
