We also analysed other internal company documents and media sources (through the Newsbank newspaper database) to identify and describe natural cigarette advertising strategies. We analysed these to identify main themes, and to distinguish any differences according to time period, gender, race, age or cigarette preference. Many documents summarised market research data on smokers' reactions to various natural cigarette concepts. We initially identified 2100 documents, narrowing them to approximately 500 of the most relevant, spanning 1970–98. We searched the archives using a snowball sampling method that began with broad search terms (natural, additive‐free) and used the retrieved documents to identify more specific search terms, including names of research projects (Project Natural), cigarette brands (Winston Additive‐free, Natural American Spirit), file locations and reference (Bates) numbers. 11, 12 Scanned PDF versions of these documents have been archived at the University of California, San Francisco (USA) library in an electronic repository ( ) the full text of the PDF files can be searched using any combination of words or phrases. Litigation against the tobacco industry has resulted in the release of nearly 7 million previously undisclosed industry documents. Drawing on internal tobacco industry documents, we also examine the themes that have emerged from three decades of industry‐sponsored market research on American smokers' perceptions of natural in relation to cigarettes, and strategic decisions of tobacco companies regarding the development and marketing of natural cigarettes. ![]() In this paper, we explore the changes that have occurred over time in American cigarette companies' use in print advertising of terms related to “natural”. Understanding how the tobacco industry markets cigarettes as natural could also inform tobacco control efforts to denormalise or “denaturalise” smoking, that is, to reinforce the social unacceptability of smoking all types of cigarettes. 9, 10 Understanding why particular smokers regard cigarettes as natural, and how knowledge of unnatural cigarette ingredients changes their perspective could inform this approach to cessation. Some tobacco control advocates have speculated that educating smokers about highly unnatural cigarette ingredients, such as pesticides and chemicals used in stripping wood and in removing nail polish, might stimulate smoking cessation. 8 But researchers have not conducted broader investigations into smokers' views of the naturalness (or unnaturalness) of cigarettes, or the many ways in which the tobacco industry markets cigarettes as natural. 5, 6, 7 It was precisely this misperception that a recent US federal court ruling (now under appeal) attempted to address, by banning the term “natural” as a cigarette descriptor. Research exploring “naturalness” in relation to cigarettes has focused largely on American smokers' misperception that certain types of “more natural” cigarettes-additive‐free, roll‐your‐own, bidis (hand‐rolled cigarettes imported from India) and kreteks (clove‐flavoured cigarettes)-are less harmful than other cigarettes. The idea that cigarettes are natural may also help smokers downplay the risks of smoking, as “natural” risks inspire less concern than unnatural ones. The perception that cigarettes are natural may suggest to some that smoking as a social practice is, therefore, inevitable: if people have always smoked, they will always smoke, so there is little point in contemplating or working toward a smoke‐free society. Moreover, in the US, Native Americans, stereotypically viewed as having an intrinsic connection with nature, 3 are intimately linked to tobacco through the image of the peace pipe. They are associated with the natural world through their most well‐known ingredient, tobacco, which has been cultivated in the Americas for thousands of years. 1, 2 But they have a heritage that may suggest to some that they are, in fact, natural. Modern cigarettes are highly unnatural-thoroughly engineered to be efficient nicotine delivery devices, and processed with chemical additives to make them easier to smoke and to prolong their shelf life.
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