Tobacco Advertising

Winston Cigarettes was known for their famous slogan, "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should." For Winston's advertising campaign in the '60s, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble take the main stage in this TV commercial.

This commercial is a little shocking to me, only because I did not grow up with tobacco being advertised. More importantly, I think it is interesting to analyse the target audience in the commercial. Clearly, The Flintstones is a children's show. Adults may have watched with their children from time to time, but Winston is targeting children in this commercial. This strategy seems somewhat relentless to me (give the kids a chance), but it also is pretty logical: get kids to think smoking is cool by using the Flintstones, and start them early because nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Logical, yet a tad unethical.

In the pictures below, Winston is reaching out the the working man. A different approach, but still looks like it would have been effective in the '60s. After all, it was the number one selling cigarette from '66-'72.