From the Girls and Children series (N64) promoting Virginia Brights Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products 1886

This small promotional card for Virginia Brights Cigarettes was likely printed in the United States in the late 19th century, by the company Allen & Ginter. It belongs to a series that associated the brand with images of girls and children. The image creates meaning through visual codes and cultural references. The child depicted is dressed in Swiss folk costume, complete with a flag bearing the Swiss cross. This exoticising approach associates the product with international appeal. The choice of Switzerland, a country known for neutrality, is no accident and is deployed to associate the brand with wholesome values. The card implicitly promotes the normalisation of smoking in general and tobacco products in particular. As historians, it is our role to examine the social and institutional contexts in which such images circulated, and to consider their impact on public perceptions. Further research into the history of advertising and public health would undoubtedly shed further light on this seemingly innocent image.