The article Risk, Pleasure, and Change: Using the Cigarette to Teach U.S. Cultural History by Gardner (2013) as the title suggests is an article that explains the impacts of cigareete on its users as well as how the perception towards the product has changed over time. morever, the article also delves into explaining the role and position of cigarettes in the the American society and culture. The main argument that the author presents in the article is that cigarettes was, is and will continue to be an integral part of the American society and culture. The author delves into exploring the history, relevance and impact of cigarette on the society in the context of how its production and consumption has evolved over time. In the article, the author not only limits the discussion to the history of position of cigarette in the American culture, the author also explains how cigarettes have helped fuel a culture that continues to transcend in modern times. With regards to the position of the cigarettes in the American culture, the article talks of how it has contradictory cultural position. The explanation offered by Gardner is that cigarettes in modern times have been identified as one of the leading causes of lung cancer and death, yet it was in the past considered as a cool product associated with sophistication and charm. This is a position that is yet to be eroded, even in current times, thus leading to the contradictory cultural position that it has in the society.

To put her article’s content into perspective; Gardner offers statistics that compares the overall consumption of cigarettes by tobacco users in 1900, with the number of cigarette consumers among tobacco consumers in 1952. The statistics clearly show that the consumption of cigarette increased by over 76% between the 52 year period. The statistics have been appropriately and effectively used in the article, to help explain the manner in which cigarette manufacturers, most notably Marlboro, engaged in extensive marketing initiatives, and contributed immensely to consumer culture, to achieve their objective of increased consumption of cigarettes. Through this perspective, the article illuminates on the contributions that cigarette producers have made towards the evolution of advertisement strategies and efforts. Increased consumption of cigarettes came at the backdrop of advancing consumerism culture. The article hints that there is high possibility that the cigarette industry may have actually been the main initiators of the culture. They were able to prove that effective marketing and advertisement strategies are capable of successfully influencing the perceptions and image of a product. For instance, during its inception, cigarettes were mostly associated with poor health, immature behaviorism and weak morals. However, through extensive marketing and mass production, the product was able to be transformed into a trendy and stylish product which almost all adults, especially the male, wanted to be associated with.

According to the article, cigarette producers like Marlboro were able to achieve success through leveraging their products as cool, mostly through use of celebrities and films in their advertisements. Furthermore, there was limited knowledge at the time regarding the adverse impacts of cigarettes. It is worth noting that during this time there was limited knowledge regarding the negative health impacts of cigarettes. This is another aspect that facilitated the increasing popularity of cigarettes. However, after the 1950s, there was increasing focus on the health implications of cigarettes. This is an aspect that slowly but surely gained popularity among consumers. The growth of concerns on the health impacts of cigarettes was significantly fostered by growing research on the matter, as well as improvements in the health sector which resulted in better instruments and equipment’s that were used to measure the overall impact of cigarette and tobacco on the health of individuals. Regardless of the growing sensitization of the risks and negative health impacts of tobacco, the consumption of cigarettes was still very high, especially between the 1950’s, going through to the 1980’s.

The turnaround in the image and perceptions of cigarettes came about with the increase in regulations in the industry. This is another aspect that the article shows in relation to cigarettes playing important roles in the culture of the US, as well as its influential role in the evolution of market dynamics. This is because, with increased research and experimental capacities, the necessity for having regulation boards that is stringent when it comes to the inspection of consumer products with regards to the impact that they have on consumers. The adverse and extensive impacts of cigarette consumption increased the necessity of having products extensively checked for their quality and impact. This is an aspect that has contributed to the decline of cigarette consumption because the producers now have to inform the consumers of the negative health outcomes that their products have. With increased access to information by the consumers as well as increased regulation of the tobacco industry especially through taxation, has resulted in the overall consumption of cigarettes has significantly declined.

In conclusion, it is evident from the article that cigarettes were and continue to be very influential in the American culture. The article shows the influential role that cigarettes play in the development and growth of the consumer culture, as well as the regulations of products within the consumer market category. A significant focus of the article is the historical evolution of cigarettes within the US culture. To this end, the article has provided information of how the consumption of filtered cigarettes among tobacco consumers from 2% in 1900 to 81% in 1952. It then points out on how evidence the risks and negative health outcomes of cigarette smoking emerged in 1953 and with time this significantly reduced the consumption of cigarettes and now only 20% of Americans smoke filtered cigarettes.