Advertising in Armenia, including billboards on the streets, keeps changing over time. The means used to reach the population keep changing, as does the social significance of advertising in its various aspects. Naturally, advertising, and all the different kinds of media it encompasses, have differing significance for various sections of society. In reality, advertising is as a rule specifically aimed at one or another section of society (according to gender, age, social, ethnic and other differences) or tries to form a consumer group that did not earlier exist. Thus, one can say that advertising is an active component of the formation of post-Soviet consumer society, both forming and outlining the course of changes.

Speaking of changes, one thing to be noted are the obvious trends relating to street billboards - the lion's share of advertising here is for tobacco, and alcoholic drinks (Russian, Armenian and other brands) are also advertised very frequently.

Over the last few months, there seems to be a marked effort to advertise light brands of cigarettes or even ultra-lights (mostly imported). This tendency sometimes takes on comic manifestations. Even Marlboro, which is called a "real man's" cigarette (it has high nicotine content), and whose advertising is traditionally based on the worship of masculinity and the display of symbols of manliness, has now shifted emphasis to the advertising of its "ultra-light" cigarettes.

This can be considered a consequence of the worldwide campaign against tobacco, and the stricter measures brought about by this enduring and serious movement. It is a compromise of sorts, as if saying, "Smoke cigarettes that are virtually harmless." The other factor bears a more local character, and stems from the "natural" desire to enlarge consumer markets, roping in girls and women. Along with lighter brands, the past few months have seen greater advertising for feminine cigarettes (Slims, Esse and so on).

Of course, there are general trends at work here, such as the fact that developing countries present larger markets for tobacco products. Smoking among older people is often linked to socio-psychological factors (frustration, bad living conditions, unemployment and so on). On the other hand, in Armenia, as in other post-Soviet countries, new forms of "consumer pleasures" are taking root, and they are all invariably associated with tobacco and alcohol. At the same time, developed countries are decreasing their number of smokers by prohibiting smoking in public places, making countries like Armenia havens for market expansion, with new consumers among girls and women.

The post-Soviet years saw a change in the social status of women, marketing women as separate social groups and model workers. The emancipation of women from national (as the mother of the family) and Soviet (as the Soviet woman) stereotypes, has meant that women today, willingly or unwillingly, are on the path to becoming an independent social power (we will not discuss the means, nor will we try to analyze its results here). This is being done with the weakening of patriarchal relations and the global trend of increasing female presence in the labor market. In these conditions, the significance and role of men has undergone certain changes due to local factors - unemployment and low wages (the effects of which are especially great after the financially secure years of the Soviet Union), socially accepted ways of avoiding military service, as well as other factors contributing to the general decline in the male image.

Although wealth and power remain predominantly male attributes in Armenia today, it seems that the struggle for money and authority will not be free of gender aspects in the future. The battle of the sexes is thus poised to take on newer political and economic tones...

Certain negative practices and factors characteristic of the current social context in Armenia (ranging from elementary irresponsibility in business relationships to the widespread corruption and plunder mocking the foundations of statehood today) are exclusively in the male domain, because the traditional male-female relationship, which excludes women from the real fields of power and wealth, continues to exist today. Therefore, they have been formed and established as exclusively male characteristics, abilities or practices and are regulated by the unwritten rules of male society as well as male skills and "talents" which boys start learn from a young age. This includes male street talk, without which one cannot establish serious relationships or hope to reach a coveted social level today. This language has become one of the leading attributes of power and authority, while the social significance of literary Armenian is today marginalized and neglected as never before.

Today, fields considered traditionally male are accessible to women only in proportion to their ability to master "male talents", get accustomed to relatively secondary roles, and so on. On the other hand, certain neutral fields are more open to women, since they are not directly linked to wealth or power, especially those which are new or non-traditional, and which have come into being in the post-Soviet years, for example, the field of civil democracy.

This role distribution is clearly seen in the field of education, for example, whereas the more "lucrative" professions (like law) are almost entirely dominated by men. Various professional fields which are very important to society (including many new fields), but are not promising in the financial aspect, are mostly left to women. This is where the establishment and evaluation of new professions leads to competition between the sexes, which, over time, might lead to the birth of new attitudes or even new work ethics.

Taking all this into consideration, one can say that future trends in social development might have a clearly defined emphasis on gender. One on hand, men will not cede their positions of wealth and power without a fight, on the other hand the slight hopes of social reform and development that we have today are arguably linked to the mediation and participation of women. Of course, there are men who are working towards reform and development as well, but it seems that female participation is critical, if, of course, the desire grows within them to change these corrupted fields and relations for the better. After all, one must not present the relationship between the sexes in the extreme (it is more of a probability, than a fact, or, from a different angle, more of an analytical means, rather than a presentation of reality), because women are a part of society today, where not only are all those shortcomings tolerated, but are also hailed as the vital components of the only reliable "national plan".

These are the trends that have led to an increase in tobacco advertising, aimed at women, on the streets of Yerevan. The objective, as mentioned already, is to enlarge the tobacco market at the expense of young girls and women. In countries of "transition", like Armenia, where society is only just beginning to enjoy the pleasures of consumerism, new lifestyles are only just being imported, and one of the main targets of advertising campaigns are the young generation. Smoking in commercials is associated with success in life and at work - "You can achieve anything," says the by-line, linking the image of a young working woman with the "freedom" of smoking.

Men are thus ready to take on the trends presented above as the changing status of women in society, in today's world of consumerism. Women are trying to come out into wider fields, and men are not averse to using this tendency to their profit, by forming a new female image and exploiting it to their means, although it is clear that the establishment and spread of smoking among young girls and women will be harmful to society at large.