Cigarettes were called “torches of freedom” during the early 20th century as part of a marketing campaign that tied smoking to the women’s liberation movement. The phrase originated in 1929 when American tobacco companies sought to break the taboo around women smoking in public.

Edward Bernays, a pioneering public relations expert, was hired by the American Tobacco Company to help increase the market for cigarettes among women. He cleverly linked smoking to women’s fight for equality and independence by framing cigarettes as symbols of empowerment and freedom.

During the Easter Sunday Parade in New York City in 1929, Bernays arranged for a group of fashionable women to walk down the street smoking cigarettes, which they referred to as “torches of freedom.” This event received widespread media coverage, promoting the idea that smoking was a form of rebellion against social norms and a symbol of liberation for women.

This campaign successfully helped normalize public smoking for women and cemented cigarettes as an emblem of personal freedom and gender equality, even though it was primarily a commercial strategy.