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“Torches of Freedom”: Thread on the world’s first PR campaign, that used feminism to justify smoking.
Before this, women used to be slut-shamed for smoking, as it was seen as immoral for women. Some places in the US even enacted laws against women smoking. Post WW1, in the 1920s gender roles began to change, with more women working and nation-wide suffragette being passed.
This churn did not go unnoticed by companies. Edward Bernays, nephew of Freud and known as the “Father of PR”, was hired by George Washington Hill, President of American Tobacco Company, as a consultant, to gain more women customers.
He hired women for a campaign at the Easter Parade in NY in 1929, led by his secretary Bertha. To prepare, she had to hide her profession and pass off as a women's rights advocate in public. No interference from American Tobacco was allowed. Press were informed in advance.
On 31st May 1929, a group 10 young, not so “model-y” women joined the parade on the 5th Avenue, brandishing their “torches of freedom”. This was a press sensation making it to many national papers, and fotage from hired photographers was widely popular.
Within 6y, women purchased 2x % of the cigarettes sold. This campaign is covered widely in marketing textbooks, and many professional still swear by the methods of Bernays.
Bernays later writes: “Age-old customs, I learned, could be broken down by a dramatic appeal, disseminated by the network of media. Of course the taboo was not destroyed completely. But a beginning had been made, one I regret today.”
For more reading, check out https://yourstory.com/2014/08/torches-of-freedom?utm_pageloadtype=scroll
