Looking at old cigarette advertisements, it’s hard to believe there were people in the world who didn’t smoke. Tobacco was associated with sex appeal, especially when tobacco companies decided they wanted women to take up smoking in equal numbers. Since cigarettes are shaped like tiny phalluses, these no doubt appealed to men in equal numbers.
Marketers even tied cigarettes to special occasions, hence the image below of Santa with a fag hanging out of his mouth.
Naturally, cigarettes and pipes were such a feature of everyday life that children’s picture books were full of them, too.
