I’m pretty fascinated by Virginia Slims’ advertising campaign of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s: “You’ve come a long way, baby.” I’ve seen enough episodes of Mad Men to realize that any feminist leanings of the ad agencies (or cigarette companies) was probably a farce, but I can get down with their message. Utilizing flappers, suffragettes and independent, Afro-wearing ladies as inspiration is just fine in my book, and if the cigarette in question is “tailored for the feminine hand” — well, yeah, that’s a little weird, but I’ll go with it.

Now the television commercials: that’s another level of amazing. The first is from Japan, the second a relic from 1967. It’s so strange to conceive of a time when cigarette ads were on tv!