AMERICA SEDUCED part 2

By 1900 America was a nation of smokers. How it began is explained in America Seduced part 1, which I posted earlier this week.

How did they do it? Mass advertising like never seen prior and premiums (items given free included with the product or received later)!!

Here are some of the items used to advertise,such as posters,trade cards,packaging and premiums given.

POSTERS

INSERT TRADE CARDS (all types appealing-Movie Stars,Famous People of the time,Patriotism,etc. Also the very 1st Baseball Cards). Customers loved the images and many were framed or put into scrapbooks.

PLAYING CARDS

TOBACCO TIN TAGS (Discovered by accident for the use of advertising. Original purpose was to label tobacco brands in the 1870s by pressing into compressed bars or rolls of tobacco before being sealed to prevent inferior grades being illegally substituted)

LABELS & PACKAGING

There are many many more things I could list about premiums such as watch fobs,coupons,fans and on and on.

What alot of people find interesting today is the fact that from the beginning there has always been opposition and the attempt to ban/outlaw the use of tobacco. What that means is,regardless of which side you are on with our attempts today to ban smoking,it has all been said and tried before.
America Seduced part 3 will explore The First Anti-Tobacco Movement in America (1893-1927)