cheers

I don't buy they are Olympic athletes as an excuse because professional athletes compete. So why should it be different?

Good point about the advertising of all types of cigars to men. But lets not forget that these companies are just starting to market to women. Cigars are, and have been, a "man's" thing for a long time. So, 1) cigar companies have a lot of experience marketing to men, the market has segmented itself by now, and there are many more examples of ads to choose from – you're mentally comparing hundreds of examples of ads aimed at men to a handful of examples of ads aimed at women; and 2) women may or may not pan out as a market. Again from a business perspective, there's no telling whether women will ever get on board with this hobby in large numbers. So, you'd want to focus your ads in a way that will have the most sure-fire bang-for-the-buck possible. It's not that new smokers "need" to be introduced to mild cigars first – it's just most likely that a mild or flavored cigar will be least likely to turn off a new smoker, and so is the usual way to introduce a non-smoker to the hobby.

One more quick point – I'm not defending the cigar makers' personal convictions in this. I don't know whether they have an outdated or prejudiced view of women. They may. Sometimes their wording, especially in press releases, suggests that they do. They should be careful about giving off that vibe.

I'm just speaking to whether this type of marketing strategy is inherently sexist. I don't think that it is. Let's remember that we're looking at only a handful of ads over a short period of time. It's tough to claim there's a bias at work with such a small sample to work with. We have to remember that these companies are working with small budgets. The cigar industry is a small industry to begin with, and potential female smokers are a very small fraction of all cigar smokers. Even if these ads were to work, which I'm not convinced they will (but that's another comment for another thread!), the net gain from them would be small.

My point is that they have to operate with profitability in mind, and so have to take the avenue that will be most likely to resonate with the majority of the group they are wooing, at least until that group is wooed and they can begin to segment along preferences. If women come on board en masse, I think you'll then see ads aimed at different types of female smoker. Right now, there just aren't enough female smokers to do that type of advertising, and such segmented ads are not the way to woo new customers in the numbers you'd need to make it profitable (in any industry).

Chris,

I've worked with a bunch of clients in various industries, usually consumer products, healthcare, technology, sometimes alcohol.

Thanks for the great comments.

Just to clarify, I don't think it's sexist to market products differently to ladies than you would to guys. Obviously, certain ads that might appeal to to men probably won't appeal to women. (I'm looking at you Arganese, with your "man with a wedding band in a hot tub surrounded by two busty blonds" ads.)

What bothers me, is the implication that female smokers are somehow limited in what they might like to mild or flavored/infused smokes.

Personally I reject the idea that a new smoker (man or woman) need to be introduced to mild cigars first. I often give new smokers something more medium-bodied so that they can more easily distinguish the flavors. In fact in many cases, I think the subtleties of a mild cigar are lost on newbies, where as a more experienced palate might pick up on the intricacies of mild cigars like, say, a Davidoff Mille series.

So if you're trying to attract new female smokers why is it that we never see an ad declare: "A bold cigar for a bold woman" or something similar?

That's what bothers me: All types of cigars are marketed to men: bold, medium-bodied, mild, flavored, infused, full-flavored, etc. But time and time again cigars marketed to women are mild and/or flavored.

Chris

To me, when these companies talk about marketing to women, I take it to mean they are marketing to attract NEW customers to the cigar industry; the specific market they are targeting is female, and they obviously want them to buy their cigars and stick with the hobby. The most important part of this is that these women are new customers who need to have a good first experience. I make this assumption b/c there's no reason to market to existing female cigar smokers – there are just not enough of them to constitute a profitable enough segment to offset the costs of a full-on marketing campaign that only aims to get a certain percentage of them to try a different cigar.

If it's the case that they are looking to attract new female smokers with these campaigns – and the last line or two of your essay seems to suggest it is – then it makes perfect sense to lure new customers in with flavored and mild cigars. No first-time cigar smoker, male or female, sits down to an LFD Cheroot or Tat T110 and becomes a cigar convert.

Furthermore, for something to be "sexist," I'd say it would have to apply to one sex and not the other. But, of course, there are mild and flavored smokes aimed at male customers as well as female. Macanudo, Drew Estates (with their slinky models)…I mean, how many male smokers started their cigar smoking career with a Drew Estates Acid? I'd say half the smokers I know started that way. The other half started with Macanudo or Ashton. So they are not just marketing milder or flavored smokes only to women, they are marketing them to men as well, which kind of deflates the "sexist" marketing argument. The real issue, again, is newbie versus long timer. A newbie's palate is going to appreciate the milder and flavored smokes more. The second issue is making sure your company talks about it this way and doesn't seem to suggest women only like or can handle mild cigars.

I just don't see sexism here. I see companies operating with limited marketing budgets, trying to make the most of their money by attracting new female smokers and ensuring that their first cigar experience is a positive (i.e., mild or flavored) one. From that perspective I think they are doing the right business thing. But they need to talk about it more carefully and make sure they don't suggest that women's palates, per se, are not capable of handling strong cigars. It's important to note that the particular women they are targeting are new to the hobby, and that newbie's palates in general cannot handle strong cigars.

As a marketing consultant, I'd also say that they need to target women with their own ads. I can't see the "dude with a hot chick hanging out in the background" ads ala Padilla or Room 101 attracting many new female customers. Again, existing women smokers will overlook those things as part of the cigar culture, but new customers may not, and probably won't resonate with the ads, and may even be offended by the secondary, eye-candy role that women play in these ads.