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In this lesson, students explore gender-related influences on smoking. They discuss the numbers of male and female smokers in Canada and around the world, and the strategies used by tobacco companies to reach both men and women. In separate groups, male and female students explore and discuss the relationship between smoking, the tobacco industry, tobacco marketing, and their gender, by deconstructing and analyzing tobacco ads from magazines for men, for women, and for a general audience. Extension activities include examining a newspaper article that highlights some of the reasons young women smoke, and a research project on how the tobacco industry targets men and women in developing nations.

Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate:

• an awareness of smoking as a global issue
• an understanding of the ways in which the tobacco industry targets men and women
• an awareness of the issues that relate to gender and tobacco marketing
• an understanding of the reasons why young men and young women smoke
• an understanding of the health risks associated with smoking

Preparation and Materials

• For ideas on how to conduct discussion groups on this topic, see Guidelines for Peer-Led Discussion Groups, on the sidebar.

Photocopy the student handouts:

• Gender and Tobacco: Women and Girls
• Gender and Tobacco: Men and Boys

Before class, have students collect magazines that contain cigarette advertising. (Public libraries or school libraries will have back issues of a wide variety of magazines.) If possible, include magazines that are specifically targeted to women and magazines that are specifically targeted to men. (Note: men's magazines such as Maxim are very popular with teenaged boys, but are not appropriate for the classroom. If any students read these magazines at home, request that they remove or photocopy the tobacco ads, rather than bringing the magazine itself to class.)

For the extension activity about Girls and Tobacco:

• Copy the newspaper article Where There's Smoke, There Are Teenage Girls - one for each student
• Copy the accompanying Question Sheet - one for each student

Procedure

Explain that in today's lesson, you will be looking at the relationship between gender and the tobacco industry.

Begin the class with the following questions. Ask students:

• Globally, what do you think are the percentages of female smokers and male smokers? (Last available statistics from 1994 estimate that globally, 47 per cent of men and 12 per cent of women smoke.)
  
  
• Why are there more male than female smokers? (Although the gap between male and female smokers tends to be smaller in developed nations, there is tremendous disparity between the numbers of male and female smokers in developing nations - which represent a larger proportion of global statistics. In developing nations, cultural and socio-economic factors exert tremendous influence on female smoking habits.)
  
  
• In Canada, what are the percentages of male and female smokers? (25 per cent males, 21 per cent females.)
  
  
• What are some contributing factors that influence smoking?
  
  
• Do you think that men and women smoke for the same reasons?
  

Put yourself into the position of a tobacco marketer.

• How might these statistics affect your marketing strategy?
  
  
• Where is the potential for most growth? (The numbers are staggering. China alone has over 350 million smokers, which represents only a third of their total population. Of those 350 million smokers, only 3.8 per cent are female and 50 million are teens. This represents a tremendous untapped market.)
  
  
• Would you use the same strategies to sell to women as you would for men?
  
  
• What strategies would be the same?
  
  
• What strategies would be different?

Activities

Small Group Discussion: 15 min

• Distribute Gender and Tobacco: Women and Girls to male students and Gender and Tobacco: Men and Boys to female students.

Once students have read the handouts, divide the class into four groups: two groups composed of girls and two groups composed of boys. Assign leaders and note-takers.

• Each group will present a brief summary of the main points of its handout.
  
  
• The girls' groups will answer the question, "What are the five most important reasons that teenage girls smoke?" and present their findings.
  
  
• The boys' groups will answer the same question, for teenage boys. (Each group should try to come to a consensus before presenting its findings.)

Advertising and Gender

Ask students to return to their groups.

• Two groups - one of boys and one of girls - will look at tobacco advertising in general-interest magazines (such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, People, etc.)
  
  
• The other two groups will look at gender-oriented magazines - the boys' groups will look at magazines that are read predominantly by men, and the girls' groups will look at magazines whose readership is predominantly female.

For each magazine, students will record:

• The name, date, and estimated target audience of the magazine.
  
  
• The number of advertisements for tobacco products.
  
  
• The types of tobacco products advertised (such as regular cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, "light" or "slim" cigarettes).

Referring to specific examples, note:

• The ways in which men and women are depicted in the ads. (Look at body language, imagery and printed text.)
  
  
• Messages about masculinity and femininity.
  
  
• Do the messages suit the overall tone of the magazine in which they appear?
  
  
• Is their tone consistent with other products in the magazine?
  
  
• Would the target audience respond to the messages of these tobacco ads? Why or why not?
  

Each group will present its findings to the class.

Extension Activities

Girls and Tobacco

• Distribute the newspaper article Where There's Smoke, There Are Teenage Girls and its accompanying Question Sheet.
  
  
• Students read the article and answer the questions, either individually or in pairs.
  
  
• Discuss the answers as a class.

Gender and Global Marketing

The global market represents tremendous opportunities for the tobacco industry.

• Have students conduct research and write a brief report on smoking and tobacco promotion in a developing nation of their choice. In their reports, students should include information about the numbers of male and female smokers, cultural and other influences, and the ways in which tobacco companies attempt to reach men and women.

Evaluation 

• Group presentations and ad deconstruction.
• Gender and Global marketing reports.