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“For just one shilling the Fund (authorised by the State War Council) will keep a soldier in tobacco for one week.” The tobacco companies also encouraged children to collect cigarettes and send them to their fathers and brothers. These actions served many different purposes for the tobacco companies. First of all, this campaign positioned the companies as patriotic supporters of the war effort. Second, it exposed young children to cigarettes and tobacco and made cigarette use seemmanly and strong. Third, and perhaps most importantly for these companies, millions of young American soldiers became hooked on cigarettes. As a result, the demand for cigarettes tripled by the early 1920s.

CIGARETTE USE IN THE MILITARY.

War still inspires an increase in tobacco use in spite of the obvious health risks. Although cigarette use has declined heavily in recent decades among civilians, this decrease has not been noted in the U.S. military. According to the most recent data available, about 24 percent of American servicemen and servicewomen smoked cigarettes or used tobacco products. This was higher than the overall rate of tobacco use among the civilian population, which was around 19 percent at that time. This abuse comes in spite of attempts to control tobacco consumption and in spite of the ways tobacco impacts a soldier’s abilities on the field. The military’s attempts to educate soldiers also go mostly unheeded.

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Nicotine Advertising and Sales: Big Business for Young Clientele