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Virginia Slims: Capitalizing on the Essence of Women in a New Era of Equality Taking into consideration the versatility of a woman’s individuality, their need to gain their independence and feel empowered, and equating their struggles and triumphs during a new era of equality, the Phillip Morris Company launched one of the most successful cigarette campaigns in history geared towards the feminist movement that spanned over a 30 year period. This ingenious campaign not managed to interpret feminism into something to sell, but it paved the way for inverted feminine ideology while female consumer simultaneously became enslaved by the very tobacco company that sought to empower them. As the proportion of female smokers soared to 33%, tobacco companies began to see them as means to increase sales. One such company was the Phillip Morris Company. Riding high on a successful campaign strategy that catapulted Marlboro sales to the top, the company sought out the very advertising agency that had engineered that campaign, the Leo Burnett Agency, to conceptualize and market its women’s specific cigarette. The agency drew its inspiration based on the name Virginia (a previous acquisition of Phillip Morris known as Virginia Rounds), and the rising trend of smokers noted moving toward a longer cigarette it had in its arsenal, Silva Thins. Provided with the name, Virginia Slims, Burnett began to work his magic. The most unique part of the process had to be the means in which it was originally marketed. Far before the development of the product ever went to market, Burnett marketed his concept and campaign to the gender specific segment first. The new brand was so successful in the market phase, that marketing was cut short after only a few weeks due to the rapid penetration the brand received. In 1968, armed with the provocative tagline, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” a slim new 100mm cigarette that not only appealed to women but had a distinct identity as a women’s cigarette, and with a campaign geared towards the emerging feminist movement, Virginia Slims hit the ground running. Utilizing a then and now approach, Virginia Slims adverts penetrated television, radio waves, and magazines, linking the drudgery and oppression that women in the past had endured with the contrasting emerging freedom and glamour of the modern woman of today. “At 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Day, 1971 the last commercial advertisement for cigarettes aired on television. It was a 60 second spot for Virginia Slims, run on the Tonight Show, and it spared not even a second.” Beginning with a depiction of a women dressed in 1920’s garb, a male voice could be heard describing how a woman had no rights. As the commercial progresses and the woman begins to strip away the layers of clothes that bound her, a new woman (Veronica Hamel) emerges. Shaking her hair loose and putting on mascara, she emerges as the glamourous woman of today. A woman’s voice can be heard describing the new slim filter cigarette tailored for a feminine hand. It closes with the jingle: “You’ve come a long way, baby. To get where you got to today. You got your own cigarette now, baby. You’ve come a long, long, way.” By eliminating the male voice and replacing it with the female voice, it not only sent a subliminal message that was this a gender specific cigarette, but that the “New Woman” – independent, empowered to make her own choices yet submissive to no one, was beginning to take shape in this era of equality. “At precisely 12:00 a.m. on Jan. 2, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act went into effect.”
Although cigarette ads would forever be banned in the U.S. on TV and across the radio waves from this day forward, it did not halt the “smashing success” of this product, as Virginia Slims splashed their way across billboards and the pages of the most influential magazines nationwide. It was clear at this point, that Phillip Morris indeed had a winner.
Throughout the 60’s and well into the early 90’s, Phillip Morris embraced the language of feminism with ads that helped women feel liberated. The following is a series of ads featured during this time period.

Virginia Slims, 1969.

Similar to the television ads that premiered in 1968, this ad features two well-defined sections. The upper third in black and white, and the lower two-thirds in color. The top of ad features several women from the turn of the century, three which appear labeled. The text displayed below the ad correlates with the numbered women, each offering a brief explanation as to where they smoked their first cigarette, while the others offer “no comment.” In contrast, the greater portion of the ad below features a young lady, dressed pretty hip, and in a flattering pose. The brand, “New Virginia Slims,” is displayed to the upper right of her, as you follow the text that cleverly appears to hug her curves, your eyes become first drawn to the packaging of the product, and then to the slogan at the bottom, “You’ve come a long way.” While the top photo is meant to signify women’s suffrages, the lower image embodies the “New Woman” persona. Though the focus of the advertisement is to sell not just a “normal cigarette” but a “woman’s cigarette,” it somehow plays on a woman’s insecurities about themselves by making them believe that somehow if they smoke Virginia Slims they will become a confident, outgoing, and desirable woman. As women begin to find their own voice, they were eager to demonstrate their emerging independence. In the 70’s, images in the adverts, began to link this brash confidence with vignettes that were reflective of the oppression women were subjected to at the turn of the century.
Virginia Slims, 1970.

Much like the first advert discussed, this advert is divided into two sections, although somewhat equally proportioned. The top half remains in black and white print, while the lover half is printed in color. Following the guidelines of the first advert, it distinguishes what is old from what is new. The upper photo shows three men sitting at a table dressed in turn of the century attire each brandishing a comment balloon with the following text: “I think women are inferior to men,” “I think women got no business votin’ or smokin’,” and “I think I just swallowed a seed.” The difference we see here, lies in how the model is juxtaposed in position that equates smoking with traits (in this case, the confidence to express her despite the opposition) that are meant to capture the essence of this new era of equality. Yes, as the text reads below the black and white print in bold text, “You’ve come a long way, baby.”
Virginia Slims, 1970.

Although the majority of adverts released during this time period were reflective of the oppressed and/or the oppressor and the modern, forward-thinking woman, occasionally “the brand represented itself as supportive of women in politics,” as reflected in this ad. The campaign button, which is transposed over two thirds of the ad, is indicative of a woman (in this case, Rosemary) running for president with the text below centered directly below the button in a larger bold type stating “Someday.” While the message is meant to be “forward-thinking” and “supportive of women’s liberation,” by asking us to be “complacent with the fact that for now,” we have our “own cigarette – just as good as being president, right?” it demonstrates that clearly some things remain off-limits with this campaign when it comes to empowering women. One giant step forward for Phillip Morris, one step back for women in the era of equality. In an attempt to gain a greater visibility of the Virginia Slims brand, the Phillip Morris Company, utilizing the slogan, “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby,” heard Billie Jean King’s voice for equality in sports and together formed the Virginia Slims Circuit, the basis of what would eventually become the Women’s Tennis Association. Although they did not endorse smoking, they believed in the free enterprise system. Although this association would face controversy for its overt attempt to “glamorize smoking and equate it with liberation,” it continued to support the cause despite the USLTA’s sanctions against it.
. Virginia Slims, 1986 By the early 90’s, the “You’ve come a long way, baby” campaign started to fizzle and although logo remained the same, the target no longer emphasized empowerment, but began to take a new direction towards convincing “fashionable, modern, independent, and self-confident women aged 20-34 that by smoking Virginia Slims they are making better, more complete expressions of their independence.” Gone were the reflections of sufferage, replaced by the very era this campaign sought to emerge from.
Virginia Slims, 1991.

Much like the adverts of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, this advert is divided into two sections with the upper third displaying a separate color photo from the bottom two-thirds. The upper photo shows a woman in a dress hanging the laundry on the line to dry. The text transposed in the upper border of the photo reads, “In 1962, Mr. Lee Evans made it clear that he wore the pants in the family. But once a week, he did not mind giving them to his wife.” Juxtaposed on the lower two-thirds while creeping into the upper photo, the model in a crouched position, dressed in pants, a cool pleather jacket and displaying a cigarette in her left hand, demonstrates with confidence that she is the one who wears the pants. The smoking of a Virginia Slim, in this case, is seen as an “act of triumph over the traditional female role. The text and cigarette pack are once again contoured near the curves of her knee extending to the ride lower corner. As your eyes follow downward Virginia Slims is printed in bold uppercase letters, the slogan positioned just below in smaller caps. While the Phillip Morris Company was guilty of capitalizing on its campaign, with shares soaring from “0.24% to 3.16%,” as well as instrumental in the rise of both the increase among 12 year old girls smoking and smoking among women, “as one marketing executive put it, the campaign, ‘bounced most of us on our ears’ and ‘set a new tone in women’s product advertising.’” Although their subsequent campaigns “It’s a woman thing” and “Find your voice” never gained the magnitude of the “You’ve come a long way, baby,” it goes without saying, Virginia Slims was the first positively promoted product that interpreted feminism as something that could sell.

Works Cited

“Advertising-Virginia Slims on Pinterest.”1970. Pinterest. Web. 17 Feb 2015.
“Cigarette Advertising and Warning Labels: Rights and Responsibilities of Cigarette Companies in The United States.” 01 Jan 1971. Weebly. Web. 17 Feb 2015.
“Mad Men: Cigarette Ads for Women.” 1969. Popsugar. Web. 17 Feb 2015.
“Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising.”1970. Stanford. Web. 17 Feb 2015.
“Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising.”1986. Stanford. Web. 17 Feb 2015.
“Vintage Ads for Virginia Slims Cigarettes.” 1991. Typepad. Web. 17 Feb 2015.