cigarettes had stopped. The poor, less educated, and
minority groups did not experience the same degree
of reduction in smoking rates as did white, middle-
and upper-class Americans. Moreover, most new us-
ers of cigarettes were female, reversing earlier trends.
The decline in smoking rates within the United
States led tobacco companies to expand into new,
global markets. Four of the six multinational tobacco
conglomerates were based in the United States. In
the middle years of the 1980’s, the U.S. govern-
ment—in cooperation with the United States Ciga-
rette Export Association (USCEA)—worked to pro-
mote the international sale of tobacco products,
especially in Asia. In Asian countries, import quotas,
high taxes, and other restrictions were alleged to
limit unfairly U.S. tobacco firms’ access to the mar-
kets they sought. In the face of U.S. threats, however,
countries such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and
Thailand removed many of their restrictions on to-
bacco imports, leading to a more than 75 percent
growth in cigarette trading in these markets and a
rapid rise in smoking rates in those nations.
Moreover, as smoking among U.S. adults declined,
tobacco companies also targeted children as poten-
tial new consumers. Joe Camel, for example, was
adopted as the official mascot of Camel cigarettes,
and the character—who had been conceived thirty
years earlier—was redesigned to be both more
cartoonish and more “cool,” in order to appeal to a
young demographic. In a series of ads that first ap-
peared in 1987, Joe Camel appeared as a cool party
animal, sporting a cigarette, sunglasses, and a tux-
edo, and with adoring young women nearby. In the
wake of this advertising campaign, the market share
of Camel cigarettes among teenagers increased more
than twentyfold.
Impact The 1980’s witnessed the emergence of
new leaders in Congress with the political skills to
guide antitobacco legislation through both the Sen-
ate and the House of Representatives. For exam-
ple, the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act
(1984)—which required that four strongly worded
warnings be rotated on cigarette packages and ad-
vertisements and that the warnings also be displayed
prominently on all advertisements—contributed to
the decline in smoking in the United States. In 1988,
Congress banned smoking on domestic air flights of
less than two hours in duration. The ban on smoking
in airplanes was later expanded to all domestic U.S.
commercial air travel lasting six hours or less. Re-
ports from the National Research Council and the
Office of the Surgeon General promoted the view
that passive smoking presented health risks to non-
smokers. They warned that nonsmokers living with
smokers had an increased risk of lung cancer, and
children living with smoking parents had an in-
creased risk of developing respiratory problems.
However, significant legislation to create smoke-free
environments would not emerge until decades later.Further Reading
Kluger, Richard.Ashes to Ashes: America’s Hundred-
Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Un-
abashed Triumph of Philip Morris.New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, 1996. Examines the role of the tobacco
industry in promoting cigarette consumption
even as the mounting medical evidence pointed
to adverse health consequences.
Pampel, Fred.Tobacco Industr y and Smoking. New York:
Facts On File, 2004. Easy-to-read compilation of
the important dates and events in cigarette history.
Snell, Clete.Peddling Poison: The Tobacco Industr y and
Kids. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2005. Good dis-
cussion regarding how the tobacco industry has
marketed its products to children and youth. In-
cludes interesting discussion of marketing Joe
Camel to children.
Wolfson, Mark.The Fight Against Big Tobacco. New
York: Aldine de Gruyter, 2001. Documents the
governmental and grassroots efforts to limit to-
bacco use in the United States.
Mar y McElroySee also Advertising; Business and the economy in
the United States; Cancer research.Soap operas
Definition Television serial melodramasReflecting the Reagan era of consumerism and excess, soap
operas in the 1980’s were heavy on glamour and outra-
geous plots, fueling the fantasies of audience members who
were facing the economic realities of the decade.Daytime and prime-time soap operas, or soaps,
peaked in the 1980’s. High ratings led producers to
shoot on location, emphasize adventure and board-
room stories, and spend lavishly on costumes andThe Eighties in America Soap operas 885