This is an research essay on my own observational skills after getting lost in Williamsburg. It is devrived from the topic of genterfication and is what I feel played a major role in Williamsburg.
cigarettesinwilliamsburg bibliographyseminar-1
Maegan Sundlie
Erick Wilson
Seminar: Bridge 4 Essay
December 1, 2016
What Role Do Cigarettes Play in Gentrified Williamsburg?
Traditional advertising used to be the lever that companies pushed when they wanted to increase
consumption of their products. Now with everyone’s attention focussed on social media, traditional
advertising has lost much of its influence. Though cigarette smoking has been decreasing
since the 1960s, it appears, at least according to my observations, to be trending up in trendy
neighborhoods such as Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Why would smoking go up when its promotion
is going down? Perhaps this is partly due to cigarettes being glorified on Instagram and other social
media platforms.
Williamsburg has become one of the fastest growing gentrified areas in New York. I took
a day to get lost in Williamsburg, solely to observe and experience this up-and-coming locale. I
found that the majority of people I saw on the streets were smoking cigarettes. This observation
left me curious as to why Williamsburg had become such a mecca for smokers. In the early days
of the tobacco industry, cigarettes were advertised as glamorous accessories. During the 1940s
and 50s, the Hollywood film industry promoted smoking by putting cigarettes on the lips of nearly
every star. When evidence emerged that cigarettes were dangerous, the government moved to
label packaging and restrict advertising, banning cigarette ads on television and radio in 1970.
Since then regulations on tobacco advertising have become increasingly restrictive, with particuMaegan
Sundlie !2
lar attention to protecting young people. Even after all this clamping down and public knowledge
of tobacco’s harmful effects, people still romanticize smoking and see it as something cool or
aesthetically pleasing. Today’s film industry continues to condone smoking, with stars looking
edgy and romantic as they take a drag on their cigarettes.
With modern technology accessible at our fingertips, it’s easy to see how social media
strongly impacts and seduces its viewers perhaps even more than traditional media. As a young
adult I have noticed that as habitually scroll through internet apps such as Instagram, Facebook,
Tumblr, and Snapchat, I see frequent images of the act of smoking. As a fashion photographer, I
understand how cigarettes can be used as a prop or added accessory that enhances the mood and
tone of the image. Could our subconscious be influenced to smoke by these images bombarding
us in our social media feeds. And how much weight does design have in the decision to buy a
pack? What makes American Spirit cooler to the ages of 18-35 than Menthol Newports? Is that
striking image on Tumblr of the girl holding a Marlboro Red cigarette really a selling factor? “ 1
Our individual identity separates us from others, but at the same time it connects us with
our communities. In this study, cigarette brand appears as a dimension in the construction of social
identity, closely intertwined with expressions of individuality. “Gyda (19, female, apprentice)
said: ‘I smoke Prince, sometimes Prince Mild. Prince is really my brand. It was sort of what
we all started with. My best friend smoked it, everybody did. You see, this small town we live
in…it is sort of…you know, like the neighbouring town is a little bigger and like a much nicer
place…so they smoke Marlboro Light. In my town we have Prince, because we are sort of the
1 Scheffels, J. “A Difference That Makes a Difference: Young Adult Smokers’ Accounts of Cigarette
Brands and Package Design.” Tobacco Control 17, no. 2 (2008): 118-22. http://www.jstor.
org/stable/20208390.
Maegan Sundlie !3
drug place and.. .it is not very nice there and everything is just ugly. It is not hip to be there or
anything.’ Gyda positioned her brand choice as part of her identity as a girl from the small town.
The larger neighbouring town was described as a place with another identity, another status and
another cigarette brand to go with that.”
In Williamsburg, I recounted seeing groups of young people huddled together in deep
conversation while smoking outside of hip spots such as artisan bakeries and Bohemian thrift
shops. The act of smoking appears to be integrated into these hipsters’ personas, making us wonder:
are you really anyone if you aren’t smoking outside of a newly renovated warehouse
gourmet coffee shop in Brooklyn? In contrast, outside of districts such as Williamsburg, cigarette
smoking is associated with lower economic status and a lack of higher education. A friend of
mine who is both a New Yorker and a frequent smoker noted that in her hometown in the south
cigarettes are half the price of cigarettes in New York. How can that be? The answer lies in minimum
price laws. “ Retail cigarette prices and retailer participation i 2 n cigarette company incentive
programmes in 2001 were compared in eight states with minimum price laws and seven
states without them. New York State had the most stringent minimum price law at the time of the
study because it excluded promotional incentive programmes in its price setting formula; cigarette
prices in New York were compared to all other states included in the study. Results: Cigarette
prices were not significantly different in our sample of US states with and without cigarette
minimum price laws. Cigarette prices were significantly higher in New York stores than in the 14
2 Feighery, E C, K M Ribisl, N C Schleicher, L. Zellers, and N. Wellington. “How Do Minimum
Cigarette
Price Laws Affect Cigarette Prices at the Retail Level?” Tobacco Control 14, no. 2 (2005): 80-85.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20747779.
Maegan Sundlie !4
other states combined. Conclusions: Most existing minimum cigarette price laws appear to have
little impact on the retail price of cigarettes. This may be because they allow the use of promotional
programmes, which are used by manufacturers to reduce cigarette prices. New York’s
strategy to disallow these types of incentive programmes may result in higher minimum cigarette
prices, and should also be explored as a potential policy strategy to control cigarette company
marketing practices in stores. Strict cigarette minimum price laws may have the potential to reduce
cigarette consumption …”
Though I am not a smoker and fully understand the health risks, I continue to use cigarettes
as a visual prop in my own art, knowing that they can convey a sense of style, and raw sensuality.
I’ve studied how an innocent image of Kate Moss shifts when a cigarette is added to the
mix. And walking on the streets of Williamsburg I saw many Kate Moss types, leaning against a
wall in their designer clothes, holding cigarettes in their delicate fingers as they socialized with
friends.
In conclusion, the government can attempt to influence behavior through laws and regulations,
such as warning us of the dangers of cigarette smoking and restricting advertising, but
government can’t determine a person’s individuality or how people express themselves and find
their communities. Even though cigarettes have disappeared from tv and radio ads, billboards,
and many other places in traditional advertising, they continue to pop up everywhere in social
media and in trendy neighborhoods like gentrified Williamsburg. As young people struggle to
find their identities, smoking will remain a way for them to try to define themselves as hip or
cool. But no ban will ever fully succeed in stemming the search for self-definition.
Maegan†Sundlie
Erick¨†Wilson
Bibliography†Bridge†4
November†21¨†2016
Citation
Scheffels¨†JƆ¢A†Difference†That†Makes†a†Difference∫†Young†Adult†Smokers߆Accounts†of
Cigarette†Brands†and†Package†DesignÆ¢†T†obacco†Control†17¨†noƆ2†®2008©∫†118≠22Æ
http∫ØØwwwÆjstorÆorgØstableØ20208390†Æ
Feighery¨†E†C¨†K†M†Ribisl¨†N†C†Schleicher¨†LƆZellers¨†and†NƆWellingtonƆ¢How†Do†Minimum
Cigarette
Price†Laws†Affect†Cigarette†Prices†at†the†Retail†Leve†lø¢†Tobacco†Control†14¨†noƆ2†®2005©∫
80≠85Ɔhttp∫ØØwwwÆjstorÆorgØstableØ20747779Æ
