In the early days of the spread of cigarette smoking, there must have come a point in the United States, Britain, and other industrialised countries when tobacco executives woke up and realised they were missing out on half the market. As many as half the men, or even more, were smoking, but it was not considered "nice" for women to smoke. The taboo said that smoking was a sign of women being "fast" and disreputable. One result of this revelation was the appearance of advertisements, of varying degrees of subtlety, showing that even nice women, often pictured as part of a happy, secure married couple, were beginning to smoke. Helped by social changes accelerated by the second world war, tobacco companies managed to eradicate the taboo, before going on to associate their products as a symbol, even an accessory, of the increasing social liberation and emancipation of women.

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