NEWPORTS T-SHIRT

The “Newport” tee by MENACE was inspired by the misleading and false advertisements that tobacco companies ran throughout much of our history. Introduced in 1957, Newport cigarettes became the cigarette of choice for many young Americans of all races, quickly climbing to the 5th most popular cigarette by the mid-80’s. The Newport company ran advertising campaigns laced with the slogan “Alive With Pleasure” but were the cigarette with the highest nicotine percentage with 10%, alongside Camel. For a long time, the public did not know about any of the problems associated with cigarettes and some actually believed that they promoted health instead. Women would smoke, doctors would smoke, and actors and celebrities openly endorsed the products. Major tobaccos companies refused to even acknowledge anything that led anyone to believe their products were actually bad for the public. However, all that has now changed due to government sanctions and laws prohibiting the use of visual and radio advertisements of cigarette companies. This tee was just our take at how some of those advertising campaigns should have panned out.