Torches of Freedom
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"Torches of Freedom" was a phrase used to encourage women's smoking using the early twentieth century first-wave feminism in the United States. Cigarettes were described as symbols of emancipation and
1900 cigarette ad
A 1914 ad targeting women. Tobacco companies have long targeted the female market, seeing it as a potential growth area.
The "Torches of Freedom" idea saw a resurgence in the 1990s far beyond the borders of America, where tobacco advertising was now becoming increasingly restricted.
Edward Bernays
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Edward Louis Bernays was an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". While credited with advancing th
Torches of Freedom
…and equality with men. The term was first used by psychoanalyst A. A. Brill when describing the natural desire for women to smoke and was used by Edward Bernays to encourage women to smoke in public despite social taboos. Bernays hired women to march while smoking their "torches of freedom" in the Easter Sunday…
"Girl in Red" advertisement for Lucky Strike; shot by Nickolas Muray, a photographer enlisted by Bernays to help popularize feminine thinness and cigarette smoking