Bonsack machine
An 1881 invention made it much easier to mass-produce cigarettes – but not to sell them. It was time for advertisers to get creative.
In 1881, James Bonsack developed a machine that made it far easier to mass-produce cigarettes. But at the time, other tobacco products were much more popular – so manufacturers had to find new ways of getting people’s attention. Tim Harford explains why the methods they devised are still working on consumers today.
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Image credit
Sources
the Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America Allan M. Brandt, Basic Books, New York 2017
Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition Robert Proctor, University California Press, 2011
Promise Them Everything: A Cultural History of Cigarette Advertising Health Claims Terrence H. Witkowski 1991
'It's Toasted' - Sarah Vogelsong
China Population Statistics and Related Information - China Today
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- Sat 12 Oct 2019 04:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
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