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GINNY, A SMASHING WORLD CHAMP (1983)
The two page color magazine ad for Virginia Slims tennis comes from the Dec. 1982 / Jan. 1983 issue of Sports Illustrated. Newspapers were used to advertise the local matches. A $100 box seat ticket that was good for all sessions at the Oakland Coliseum during February 1983, came with free parking. The Philip Morris Company’s early sponsorship of women’s tennis helped assure today’s American women an equal opportunity in sports. |
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IN 1989, MS. VIRGINIA NEEDED A LITTLE HELP (1975-1993)
The attractive women who modeled for Virginia Slims weren’t always successful in introducing new line extensions. Virginia Slims Ovals were unsuccessfully test marketed in Rochester, Las Vegas, and Birmingham beginning June 1984. Another short lived idea was to package VS in a supposedly convenient ten pack. In October 1975 Philip Morris was the first manufacturer to extend the 120mm length to a major brand. Virginia Slims 120’s were tested in Fresno, California, but withdrawn when sales failed to meet expectations. It wasn’t until 1985 that super long Virginia Slims Lights 120’s were found acceptable. One VS line extension brought out in the late 1980s was smiled upon by women, but scorned by a competing manufacturer. Philip Morris launched Superslims from Virginia Slims beginning October 1989. The Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation had been selling super thin Capri since January 1987, and frowned when another skinny smoke was introduced. That same year I received a letter from a lawyer with a NYC law firm that was representing Philip Morris. I was asked if there had been any cigarettes made before 1987 that had a very, very small diameter. Did you know that Benson & Hedges marketed Russian No. 3 cigarettes during the 1930’s with a smaller diameter than Capri? |
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Virginia slim Cigarettes sexi
In 1968, Philip Morris marketed Virginia Slims cigarettes to women with an advertising strategy showing canny insight into the importance of the emerging women’s movement. The slogan “You’ve come a long way, Baby” later gave way to “It’s a woman thing” in the mid-1990s, and more recently the “Find your voice” campaign featuring women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The underlying message of these campaigns has been that smoking is related to women’s freedom, emancipation, and empowerment. |
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Virginia slim cigarettes sport at Euro-cig.com
Magazine
African-American woman’s upper body profile leaning forward on red background. “Never let the goody two shoes get you down” (Publications: Entertainment Weekly, Glamour) |
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VIRGINIA SLIMS PRESENTS, CAROL ALT (1987—1989)
Beautiful Carol Alt was one of the women that Virginia Slims Cigarettes featured in their ads during the late 1980s. The classic “You’ve come a long way, baby” advertising campaign didn’t mention or list the different model’s names, and Ms. Alt felt that she personally wasn’t endorsing the product because she hadn’t been identified. Even though Carol Alt was a smoker, she refused to pose for any future Virginia Slims ads when she realized that her picture alone was recognition enough for some of her fans to feel that she was endorsing cigarettes. This decision cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages. |
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Magazine
VS African woman in traditional garb. “Kila mtu ana uzuri wake: No single institution owns the copyright for beauty” (“Every person has their own goodness/good qualities”) (Publication: Glamour) |
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YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY (1968—1986)
Just as the feminism movement hit in the late 1960’s, The Philip Morris Company introduced San Francisco Bay Area women to a new ‘women’s only’ cigarette. The Leo Burnett Advertising Agency of Chicago produced a series of tongue-in-cheek magazine ads for Virginia Slims that playfully pitted men against women. Phony sepia-toned photos, picturing the sorry lot of a circa 1900’s woman, were juxtaposed against color photographs of a far happier modern woman wearing stylish contemporary clothing. The test market began July 30, 1968, then expanded to all fifty states just 28 days later. By 1969, the first full year of Virginia Slims national distribution, sales were a very respectable .9 percent. American women now had a cigarette they could call their own. |
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