When Santa sold cigarettes

Judging by the looks of old tobacco advertisements, it may seem that cigarettes regularly topped children’s Christmas lists.                                                     

Tobacco ads from the early and mid 20th century feature jolly St. Nick carrying a sack full of cigarettes, stuffing stockings with tobacco and decorating a tree with cigarette packs.

Here is a selection of the more than 60 ads featuring Santa Claus in the library managed by the Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising. While the tobacco industry may no longer use Santa to sell cigarettes, it still sends out plenty of holiday promotions. (Read more about those here.)