Card Number 21, Helen Greyson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

This is a promotional card, one of many made in the United States by W. Duke, Sons & Co. around the turn of the century. This card, made to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes, features the actress Helen Greyson. Consider this image as part of the wider phenomenon of celebrity endorsements. What does the image of an actress have to do with cigarettes? What cultural associations did the manufacturers hope to inspire in their consumers? It may also be worth asking who these cigarettes were aimed at. The scantily clad actress suggests a male consumer base. The card is a window into the gender politics of the time and the way in which women were used in the service of commerce. To understand this phenomenon fully, one might turn to the company archives to learn more about the marketing strategies employed in the period. Approaching the image in this way reminds us that art is as much a social phenomenon as an aesthetic one.