Vintage Cigarette and Cigar Advertising Posters in the 1920s and ’30s

Spurred by the instant coast to coast success of blended cigarette brands such as Camel, Lucky Strike and Chesterfield, cigarette companies spend millions on advertising and promotion to encourage smoking in 1920.

Cigarette and cigar advertisements in the 1920s and ’30s

In the 1920s, smoking was rare among women. However, passage of the 19th Amendment ushered in new freedoms and smoking in public became symbolic of women’s new role in society. American Tobacco taps into the women’s cigarette market with the marketing slogan “Reach for a Lucky instead of sweet.”

In the 1930s, almost every magazine and medical journal featured cigarette advertisement featuring opera singers, athletes, doctors, senators and movie stars. Every major radio show featured tobacco advertisements. Jack Benny would seamlessly weave the advertisement into his comedy hour.

Here below is a set of vintage posters of cigarette and cigar advertisements in the 1920s and 1930s.

Avis... Fumez les cigarettes de la Régie Française, circa 1920s

Be Nonchalant . . . Light a Murad Cigarette, circa 1920s

Cigarettes Leo, circa 1920s

Cigarillos 43, La Gran Marca Argentina, October 1920

Cigarillos 43, Plus Ultra, February 1920

Craven A, Cork Tipped Virginia Cigarettes, circa 1920s

Delta Atikah Zigaretten, Dresden, 1920

Introducing La Tosella 10¢ Cigar, "You'll Buy a Box Tomorrow", circa 1920s

Le Fumeur, 1920

Miss Blanche Cigarettes, circa 1920s

Murad, The Turkish Cigarette, "Everywhere... Why?", circa 1920s

Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Co. Ltd., Zhou Baisheng, 1920

R. G. Dun Cigar, the Masculine Smoke, circa 1920s

Sun Tobacco Company, China, circa 1920s

GOS Tabachnaya Fabrika (Soviet cigarette ad), Vladivostok, 1925

Cigarettes Matossian Le Caire Égypte, 1926

Ova, Reemstsma Cigaretten, in Anaber Format, 1929

Abadie, Cigaretové Dutinky a Papirky, 1930

Week End Cigarettes, Goût Anglais, 1933

Cigarettes Swissair en pur tabac d'Orient, 1934

Cigarettes Turkish, circa 1937

Boule d'Or, circa 1930s