Tobacco Makers Target Women Overseas

July 5 -- A woman peers seductively into the camera from behind a locker room shower stall, her hands combing through her long dark hair.

Her neighbors in the stalls next to her grin bashfully, trying not to notice. But since she's showering in the middle of a men's locker room, it's hard for them not to.

"Do I Look Shy?" reads the photo's caption.

Lest you think this is an ad for a soft porn video — look again. It's an ad for Winston cigarettes.

Ads Through the Ages

The ad, which ran in South Africa, is just one example of the many ways that tobacco companies are using images of strong, independent women to market their products all over the world. Long a tradition in the United States, images like these, which appeal to women customers, are now becoming commonplace in overseas markets where the rates of women smoking are far less than that of men.

Vast Opportunity

In fact, a recent study from the World Health Organization calls selling tobacco products to women the single largest marketing opportunity in the world. In 1996, only between 2 percent and 10 percent of women in developing countries smoked, compared to 25 percent to 30 percent of women in developed countries, according to the WHO.