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CENTURY
Yale University
School of Medicine
SAC-203
Connecticut
Mental Health Center
34 Park Street
New Haven, CT 06519

Phone:
203-974-7591

Fax:
203-974-7606

E-mail:
infocentury@yale.edu

CENTURY/TTURC Press Release

New Haven, Conn. - An advertising approach that works for one generation of women doesn't always work for the next generation, tobacco company experts have found. The tobacco industry's need to attract new generations of smokers provides an opportunity for anti-smoking campaigns, says a new research paper from Yale and UCSF researchers.

"The tobacco industry does a lot of research to figure out what young women want to be like. Then they portray those images in their advertisements to try to get those women to smoke their cigarettes," said Dr. Benjamin A. Toll, PhD., an associate research scientist with the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and first author on the paper. Dr. Toll also is a researcher with the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at Yale. “Young women were the key to long term success in cigarette marketing campaigns. Once Virginia Slims began to lose its appeal to young adult females, Philip Morris decided the brand needed a makeover," said Dr. Pamela M. Ling, M.D., the paper's senior author and an assistant professor in residence with the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

For example, the efforts of Philip Morris to position its Virginia Slims smokers in the late 1960's and 1970's as independent liberated women worked well during an era when feminism was a popular concept. The creation of this "brand personality" was a key element in the success of the Virginia Slims product, Dr. Toll said.

When that brand started to lose market share in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Philip Morris executives did a series of qualitative image studies. They found the slogan "You've come a long way baby" was irrelevant to the younger generation of women. Instead, money, material acquisitions and good-paying jobs were priorities. Social activism had no relevance to this generation of women, the studies found.

"You've come a long way baby" was dropped in favor of "It's a woman thing," and then "Find your Voice," Dr. Toll's paper says. New promotional strategies included a line of king-sized cigarettes, a series of promotional events at bars, "spa days," and "V-Wear," a line of branded items (e.g., clothing).

Drs. Toll and Ling concluded that young women age 18 to 24 are exceptionally valuable for the tobacco industry. They say that the tobacco industry's attempt to attract these new younger smokers, while at the same time trying to retain older smokers provides an opening for anti-tobacco campaigns. “Tobacco control campaigns for young adult females that portray smoking as an outdated, passé activity undermine tobacco industry efforts to re-make brands that are losing relevance over time," said Dr. Ling.

"A better understanding of tobacco industry strategies will ideally allow tobacco control efforts to anticipate the tobacco industry, rather than only reacting in response to its activities," Dr. Toll said in the paper.

The citation for the article is Toll, B.A., Ling, P.M. (2005). The Virginia Slims identity crisis: an inside look at tobacco industry marketing to women. Tobacco Control. 14:172–180. Please see www.quitwithyale.org for more information about CENTURY/TTURC.

From the paper:

RESEARCH PAPER

The Virginia Slims identity crisis: an inside look at tobacco industry marketing to women, B A Toll, P M Ling

Objectives: Because no prior studies have comprehensively analysed previously secret tobacco industry documents describing marketing female brands, the Virginia Slims brand was studied to explore how Philip Morris and competitors develop and adapt promotional campaigns targeting women.

Methods: Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents. The majority of the documents used were from Philip Morris.

Results: The key to Virginia Slims advertising was creating an aspirational image which women associated with the brand. Virginia Slims co-opted women's liberation slogans to build a modern female image from 1968 through to the 1980s, and its market share grew from 0.24% to 3.16% during that time period. Ironically, the feminist image that worked very well for the brand was also the reason for its subsequent problems. Philip Morris experienced unprecedented losses in market share in the early 1990s, with a decline in market share for four consecutive years from 3.16% to 2.26%; they attributed this decline to both the fact that the brand's feminist image no longer appealed to young women aged 18–24 years, and increased competition from more contemporary and lower priced competitors. Throughout the 1990s, attempts to reacquire young women while retaining Virginia Slims loyal (now older) smokers were made using a ‘‘King Size'' line extension, new slogans, and loyalty building promotions.

Conclusions: Tobacco advertisers initially created distinct female brands with aspirational images; continued appeal to young women was critical for long-term growth. The need for established brands to evolve to maintain relevance to young women creates an opportunity for tobacco counter-marketing, which should undermine tobacco brand imagery and promote aspirational smoke-free lifestyle images. Young women age 18–24 are extremely valuable to the tobacco industry and should be a focus for tobacco control programmes.

For more information, please contact:

Pem McNerney
Communications Director
The Center for Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research at yale
Yale University School of Medicine
S-212, Connecticut Mental Health Center
34 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06519
TEL: (203) 974-7555 or (203) 915-2107
FAX: (203) 974-7594
pem.mcnerney@yale.edu