Remembering Cigarette Billboards

In the United States' Tobacco Settlement of 1999 so-called outdoor advertising (aka billboards) for cigarettes were outlawed. Sure, smoking is a bad habit, an unhealthy addiction, but don't you miss the ads?

Well, if you do, there's no need to "white knuckle" it, becuase the Duke University libraries have wisely made room for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) Archives. (I feel obliged to mention that their online image gallery includes more than just cigarette ads.)

And now, to satisfy your cravings... smoke 'em if you got em!





The prototypical cigarette ads featured rugged, macho men, like the Marlboro Man.

Other ads featured urban role models enjoying themselves.


Virginia Slims was the brand for ladies.



Some brands tried to attract smokers with "low tar" claims.


No offense to these actors, but I think the Joe Camel cartoon was an improvement over that brand's "live action" ads from the past.



See more billboards at the OAAA archives.

Website of the Day

NPR's Valentine's Day Site


This website was recently promoted by the Librarians' Internet Index:

A Collection of radio programs and written features about Valentine's Day, which "elicits a variety of responses: joy, glee, bliss, and even annoyance." Topics include hickeys, kissing, Valentine's Day poetry, mix tape playlists, the meaning of the color red in textiles, gold, recipes for chocolate raspberry heart cake and a vegan cake, and more.

Website of the Day, 11/20/2008

The Life Magazine Photo Archives

The millions of photos in Life magazine's collection have gone unviewed for decades, in fact, more than 95 percent of them were never seen by the public. But Google, as part of their effort to "organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" (says software engineer Paco Galanes on Google's blog), has brought those images online.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life%20Google

The collection includes photos and etchings from the 1750's all the way to the 1970's.

It is searchable in a number of ways.