Since 1789, when the first tobacco advertisement appeared, tobacco manufacturers have been pioneers of advertising and marketing, revolutionizing the American way of doing business in the process. The folksy, familiar and innocent-looking images portrayed in tobacco advertising were part of the new wave of product promotion - tin tags, cigar and tobacco labels, insert cards (including the first baseball cards) - that helped transform America into a nation of smokers by 1900.
With illustrations of antique artifacts, old photographs and contemporary advertising, the reader is taken through the rapid growth of the tobacco industry following the Civil War, and shown a wide-range of promotional ploys and gimmickry that evolved in this century: tobacco tins, cigarette pack art, and outdoor advertising. Other advertising objects include lapel buttons, pocket mirrors, postcards, watch fobs, pocketknives, envelope stickers and more. All are lavishly illustrated, many in full color, and an informative value guide is included.