TOBACCO FREE FASHION

                            

                                    

        From the most prestigious creative houses around the world to the catwalks that draw the rich, famous, and glamorous, to the retail outlets where the latest styles are bought and sold, to the streets, where fashions live, die and morph into next year’s “musthaves” – this is part of the life cycle of fashion. The tobacco industry understands this each of these phases . They use the names of the most famous creators and the beautiful, recognizable faces of models to sell their products. They sponsor fashion shows and competitions for aspiring designers to win publicity and credibility. The industry has always seen fashion and the portrayal of cigarettes as a fashion accessory, as a useful tool to increase its market. Originally targeted mainly at women, these marketing efforts have shifted lately into more trend setting venues to reach young people of both genders. In the 1970s, the tobacco industry decided to use fashion as an added strategy to market cigarettes. The very successful brand KIM was launched by British American Tobacco in Germany targeting the 16-39 year old fernale market. The launch of Kim was supported by a series of promotions to portray the brand as fashionable.

        In addition to placing advertisements in fashionoriented magazines, tobacco companies promote their own brands of clothing and sponsor several fashion-related events. These events are usually not covered by existing advertising bans or restrictions, nor are they promotion.These days, top fashion models have as much recognition and “star power” as actors and actresses and similar to the movie stars, female and male models are often depicted smoking. Whether or not they smoke in real life whether this is merely another form of product placement, it adds to the image of glamour, fashion and rebellion that tobacco companies like to associate with cigarettes. A more recent strategy has been to promote fashion events on youth venues such as night clubs.