If a TV show or movie about the 50's or 60's is REALLY authentic, it shows nearly everyone above the age of 21 having a smoke.
Our generation was perhaps the smokingest one in history, at least during those two decades. And no wonder! We were bombarded with ads on TV, radio, in newspapers, magazines, and billboards. And we had a pretty good idea that it was bad for us, but we weren't 100% sure.
In 1947, Merle Travis's Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette painted a dark picture of tobacco addiction and its ultimate effect: death. But it was not until 1966 that the US government finally required labeling on cigarette packs stating that "Smoking may be hazardous to your health."
In my house, the warning had an immediate effect. Mom was a Salem chain smoker, and as soon as I was old enough to read that warning, I began hounding her to stop. She finally did, a few years later.
Smoking began declining late in the 60's, but it was still extremely commonplace. The idea of a smoke-free restaurant, or even a smoke-free SECTION of a restaurant, was inconceivable. If you went out to eat, you smelled cigarette smoke. It was a given.
All cars had ash trays. So did the vast majority of homes. Movie stars like John Wayne hawked cigarettes, though he filmed many anti-smoking ads late in life as he fought cancer.
Speaking of the ads! TV advertising was banned in 1970. Yet, even though I was only ten when I heard my last cigarette commercial, I can easily recite at least twenty jingles and slogans that I heard over and over.
Smoking was simply cool. That's why so many teenagers did it. There was a stern warning on cigarette machines warning minors not to operate them, but it was never enforced. Therefore, many eighteen-year-olds already had two-pack habits.
A commercial aired the same year that the warning appeared on cigarette packs that was replayed for at least twenty years afterwards. It was a kid imitating his father's every move, including picking up a pack of cigarettes and having a look at them immediately after his father had lit up.
Smoking has a negative reputation these days. Smoking is no longer allowed in many establishments any more. You can't smoke on US domestic air flights. But in the 50's and 60's, it was everywhere. We grew up smelling it, and got to where we didn't even notice it anymore.
Comments (9)
My dad owned a store back then that sold newspapers, magazines, candy, cigars and...cigarettes. Lots and lots of 'em. And I remember when all the warnings came out. I would like to see all cigarette smoking end.
Posted by Rhea | February 21, 2007 7:42 AM
Posted on February 21, 2007 07:42
What's strange is how I grew up oblivious to second-hand smoke, now I can detect it a hundred yards away!
Posted by Ron Enderland | February 21, 2007 8:32 AM
Posted on February 21, 2007 08:32
I can remember being sent to the grocery store, I believe it was a "Piggly Wiggly" with a note. Stating "Please sell my son Cigarettes, they are for me." And actually getting away with it. Wow, what a time. Craig.
Posted by Craig | February 21, 2007 10:09 PM
Posted on February 21, 2007 22:09
I think my first breath of life was cigerette smoke. I can remember my dad sitting in his chair, smoking, and I was playing on the floor. When I go to stand up and leave the room, there was a cloud of haze that covered the room, and the white walls had to be painted because they had turned a brownish color.
Posted by J Davis | April 27, 2007 6:33 PM
Posted on April 27, 2007 18:33
My grandmother smoked Salems when I was a kid. When I started seeing and understanding the smoking warning ads around age 5, I started reminding her "Grandma, smoking is hazardous to your health."
She kicked the habit after a couple of years, just like your mother.
Posted by Ted | May 4, 2007 1:07 PM
Posted on May 4, 2007 13:07
Sure, everybody smokes. Uncle Ralph like Chesterfields, and Aunt Aggie preferred Pall Malls. Dad liked Kents. Later, Kools. Funny all the brands a kid can remember. The power of advertising.
Posted by bob | May 12, 2007 12:49 AM
Posted on May 12, 2007 00:49
As a kid we used to play cigerette tag. If you got tagged you had to yell out a brand of cigerettes to get untagged. We even played it at church picnics when some of the parents were smoking after lunch! Also in the gifts to the nursing homes at Christmas a couple of cartons were included.
Posted by Linda | November 2, 2007 8:33 PM
Posted on November 2, 2007 20:33
Nope! Can't say I took up smoking! I guess my parents threatened me enough not too, I was scared! But it worked! Dad was a two pack a day smoker late in his life. Mom never smoked! Dad liked Kools, Marlboro' Salems and a variety of others. I remember one year for Halloween I went as a pack of Kool cigerettes! Smoking did take out my grandfather in the 60s. After seeing his battle with Lung Cancer and radiation, that reenforced it for me. Now I do like the premise of smoking. I thought it was cool looking. I faked smoking sometimes to fit in, but couldn't pull it off with out hacking to death! We always had a pedestal ashtry in the house back in the day. Dad used those paperback match books too! He also did a few years with a pipe also!
Posted by Rivers End | June 4, 2009 9:03 PM
Posted on June 4, 2009 21:03
Cigarette tag! Wow, I had forgotten all about that one. Thanks for the memory Linda. Too cool! I played it. But when people first smoked, they had no idea it could be quite harmful. And it looked oh so cool on the movie screen, didn’t it?
Consider, boomers, that we kids bought bubble gum cigarettes wrapped in paper. They also had candy cigarettes that we white with read or pink at the end to resemble a lit cigarette. I bought them. Actually, I do not think the candy imitations were are real factor in smoking, anyway. Kids often wanted to fit in or rebel and cigarettes were there. And movies showed smokers as being super cool. The Diceman (Andrew Dice Clay) used them in his act and hey, he made it look unF#$%^&* believable ;-)
Hollywood was the greatest advertising campaign cigarettes could have asked for or bought. But as I see it, take away the real power of cigarettes by eliminating the things that cause people to smoke like fitting in or wanting to rebel against a world that normal people should be revolted by.
Further, many critics of cigs have failed to address that cigs do have a real narcotic benefit in helping one to be calm and focused. Help people cope with life and to develop the skills without drug aid such as cigs. If people are taught good coping and life skills, they will be much more able to take on life without drugs.
Its easy to throw rocks, point fingers, and condemn. It takes much more to give positive constructive help rather than throw easy answers that really do not help at all.
In the 60s, we were not so uptight, or ready and willing to blame anything we could find nearby to excuse ourselves and condemn without reason. I do not like cig smoke but I really detest simple easy ineffective and useless answers and directions. Banning smoking is easy but not necessarily compassionate.
Love will go the distance. In difference will go any which way with little concern for the real results. There is a lot you can learn from the 60s, says I!
Posted by Scott Irv | June 4, 2009 11:38 PM
Posted on June 4, 2009 23:38