Ad Age is running an interesting piece on the death of cigarette advertising. At a time when the FDA would like to control tobacco and possibly make print advertising for cigs illegal (to match the existing TV and radio bans), the move may prove to be purely symbolic (if it happens), for Big Tobacco has already curtailed this activity.
In 2006, for the first time since Philip Morris created the Marlboro Man in 1955, no Marlboro ads ran in U.S. consumer media. Cigarette media spending totaled just $56 million in 2005, the vast majority of that going to support Camel and Kool, both Reynolds American brands.
Of course, there’s still plenty of marketing spending behind the products: cigarette makers in 2005 spent $13.1 billion on U.S. direct mail, events, in-store trade and consumer price-promotions.
Ad Age rightly explores what all this means to Madison Avenue. “It’s exceptionally difficult to recruit people to work on a tobacco account,” said Amy Hoover, exec VP at Talent Zoo. “It’s a tough mark to have on your résumé.”
