Was this the heyday of the Cigarette Ad genre? No, I don’t think so. The ads of the 30s, particularly the Chesterfields, had a simplicity the 50s ads lacked - at least until you get to particular Marlboro and Kent campaigns. The ads of the 60s were cleaner. The ads of the 70s - wacky, or banal. The ads of the 80s might have been the worst. And then they were gone.

The ads of the 50s have one overwhelming message, thought:

INCREDIBLE CIGARETTE HAPPINESS

Taste and satisfaction! Yes, these cigarettes would satisfy - a line used by Chesterfield, but they didn’t own the word. Taste, well, you couldn’t copyright that, either. Also, everyone was Mild.

Straight cigarettes, no filter: mild. You’re really in another universe when you can describe an unfiltered Lucky as mild.

The ads are arranged by year, not broken out by brand, because I wanted to show how the entire industry moved en masse. Also, because the idea of breaking out brands by years to show how individual campaigns evolved didn’t hit me until I was finished with the Soda section, and the folders, arranged alphabetically, put Soda after Smokes. I’m making this entire thing up as I go along. I’m surprised you’ve even read this far.

Anyway, here we go: about 170 pages for you to enjoy.