Lucky Strike

Lucky Strike is an American cigarette brand owned by the British American Tobacco group. The brand's individual cigarettes are often colloquially called "Luckies". Lucky Strike was the best-selling brand of cigarettes in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s.

Name

Lucky Strike was introduced as a brand of chewing tobacco by the American firm R.A. Patterson in 1871, although it had been converted into cigarettes by the beginning of the 20th century. The brand name was inspired by the gold rush of the time, during which only four miners out of every thousand were lucky enough to find gold, and was intended to connote a high-quality blend.

A widespread urban legend maintains that the name "Lucky Strike" It referred to the presence of marijuana in some cigarette packages.

History

The brand was first introduced by R. A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as a cut plug and later as a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company.

In 1917, the brand launched the slogan 'It's Toasted' ("It's toasted") to promote the method of roasting, rather than sun-drying the tobacco, a process that is claimed to improve the flavor of the product. In an attempt to counter that popular campaign, competitor Camel went in the other direction, claiming that Camel was a 'fresh', 'never roasted' cigarette.

In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as a route to thinness for women, a typical advertisement reading: "Look for a Lucky instead of a candy." Lucky Strike increased by more than 300% during the first year of the advertising campaign. In the early 1930s, Al Jolson was also paid to endorse the brand; He called Lucky Strike 'the cigarette of the acting profession...Luckie's good old-fashioned flavor is as sweet and relaxing as the best song 'Mammy'. ever written. Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion in 1930, making Lucky Strike the leading brand nationwide.

Lucky Strike's association with radio music programs began during the 1920s on NBC. In 1928, bandleader and vaudeville producer B. A. Rolfe was performing on the radio and recording as "B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra" for Edison Records. In 1935, ATC began sponsoring Your Hit Parade, featuring North Carolina tobacco auctioneer Lee Aubrey "Speed" Riggs (later another tobacco auctioneer from Lexington, Kentucky, F.E. Boone, was added). The weekly radio show countdown catapulted the success of the brand, which remained popular for 25 years. The programs capitalized on the theme of the tobacco auction and each ended with the signature phrase 'Sold, American.'

In 1934, Edward Bernays was asked to address women's apparent reluctance to purchase Lucky Strike because its green and red packaging clashed with standard women's fashion. When Bernays suggested changing the package to a neutral color, George Washington Hill, head of the American Tobacco Company, refused, saying that he had already spent millions advertising the package. Bernays then strove to make green a fashionable color. The centerpiece of his efforts was the Green Ball, a social event at the Waldorf Astoria, hosted by Narcissa Cox Vanderlip. The pretext for the dance and its anonymous insurer was that the proceeds would go to charity. The famous women of society attended in green dresses. Manufacturers and retailers of clothing and accessories were warned of the enthusiasm growing around the color green. He recruited intellectuals to give intellectual talks on the topic of green. Before the ball took place, newspapers and magazines (encouraged in various ways by Bernays' office) had latched on to the idea that green was in fashion.

The company's advertising campaigns generally featured a theme highlighting the quality of tobacco purchased at auction for use in the manufacture of Lucky Strike cigarettes and claimed that higher quality tobacco yielded resulted in a better tasting cigarette. American participated in a series of advertisements with Hollywood actors as endorsers of Lucky Strike, including testimonials from Douglas Fairbanks, about the taste of the cigarette, which is often described as delicious due to the tobacco that is roasted. In 1937-1938, American Tobacco paid $130,000 ($3.2 million in 2019) to 16 Hollywood actors and actresses for their support of Lucky Strike, the highest paid being Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor and Spencer Tracy, who were paid $10,000 each (approximately $178,000 in 2019 USD). The "Luckies" They were the cigarette of choice for famous smoker Bette Davis, who smoked them until the last years of her life (The New York Times noted in the year of her death that she had switched from them to Vantage-filtered cigarettes).

Beginning in the fall of 1944, Lucky Strike was also a sponsor of comedian Jack Benny's radio and television program, The Jack Benny Program, which was also presented as The Lucky Strike Program.

The brand's signature dark green packaging was changed to white in 1942. In a famous advertising campaign using the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war," the company claimed that the change was made because the copper used in the green color was needed for World War II. American Tobacco actually used chrome to produce the green ink and copper to produce the gold-colored trim. There was a limited supply of each, and substitute materials gave the package a drab appearance.

Actually, the white package was introduced to modernize the label and increase the appeal of the package among female smokers; Market research showed that the green package was not attractive to women, who had become major consumers of tobacco products. The war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while also appearing patriotic.

The company's president, George Washington Hill, challenged famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy to improve the existing green and red package, with a bet of $50,000 on the line. Loewy changed the background from green to white, making it more attractive to women, as well as reducing printing costs by eliminating the need for green dye. He also placed the Lucky Strike target logo on both sides of the package, a move that increased both visibility and sales. Hill paid the bet.

The message "L.S./M.F.T." ("Lucky Strike means fine", "Lucky Strike means fine tobacco") was introduced on the package in 1944..

Lucky Strike was one of the brands included in field rations provided to American combat troops during World War II. Each ration of the time included, among other items, nine cigarettes of different brands because at the time, senior military commanders would declare that tobacco was essential to the morale of soldiers fighting on the front. The other brands of cigarettes included in the campaign rations were Camel, Chelsea, Chesterfield, Craven A, Old Gold, Philip Morris, Player's, Raleigh and Wings. The practice of including cigarettes in field rations continued during the Korean War and the Vietnam War, ending around 1975 or 1976 with the growing knowledge that smoking caused various types of health problems.

Postwar

In 1978 and 1994, Brown & Williamson acquired the export rights. In the 1960s, filtered styles were released in addition to a minty version called "Lucky Strike Green". This time, "green" He was referring to the menthol and not the overall color of the package. In late 2006, the Lucky Strike filtered Full Flavored and Light cigarette varieties were discontinued in North America. However, Lucky Strike continued to have marketing and distribution support in territories controlled by British American Tobacco as a global brand. Additionally, R. J. Reynolds continues to market the original unfiltered Lucky Strike in the United States.

During 1991 and 1992 it was one of the brands of the static signs in the Chilean soccer stadiums and sponsor of the 1991 and 1993 Copa América.

In 2007, new Lucky Strike packaging was launched, with a two-way opening that separated seven cigarettes from the rest. That same year, the company used the world's smallest man, He Pingping, in its advertising campaigns.

In 2009, Lucky Strike Silver (the brand marketed as lighter) changed its UK packs from the quintessential red design to blue, albeit with a red teaser covering the pack.

In 2012, Lucky Strike consumption was 33 billion packs, up from 23 billion in 2007. The television series Mad Men, which featured Lucky Strike As a major client of advertising firm Sterling Cooper and Don Draper's cigarette of choice, he received the credit. with inspiring the massive jump in sales.

In December 2020, Lucky Strike filter cigarettes were reintroduced to the US market, both full flavor and light, as well as full flavor and light menthol versions.

Sports sponsor

Jenson Button driving for BAR in Indianapolis at the 2005 United States Grand Prix and Wayne Rainey driving a Yamaha YZR500 during the 1989 Japan Grand Prix. In response to restrictions on tobacco advertising in F1, the notebook does not explicitly mention Lucky Strike.

From 1972 until the team's departure in 1975, Lucky Strike sponsored the Scuderia Scribante team, also known as "Neville Lederle" and "Lucky Strike Racing". The cars, driven by Neville Lederle and Dave Charlton, were some of the first to be sponsored by a major tobacco company after the Lotus Team was sponsored by Gold Leaf in 1968, and Marlboro began sponsoring British Racing Motors in 1972 and then to McLaren in 1974. The team mainly participated in the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, but during the 1972 Formula 1 season, the team also participated in the French Grand Prix at the Circuit de Charade, the Grand Prix of Great Britain at Brands Hatch and the German Grand Prix at the old Nürburgring. After the team's withdrawal, more than 20 years would pass before Lucky Strike returned to participate in Formula 1 with the British American Racing team.

As a result of British American Tobacco's purchase of American Tobacco Company in 1976, Lucky Strike came under British control. The company acquired the Tyrrell Racing Formula 1 team in 1997 and renamed it British American Racing the following year, sponsoring the team with its Lucky Strike brands and its companion State Express 555. In the debut season of the team, originally wanted to mark Jacques Villeneuve's car with the red and white colors of Lucky Strike, while marking Ricardo Zonta's car with the blue colors of the 555. However, the International Racing Federation Automobile blocked the movement and the team was forced to race in two similar liveries. They opted to have the Lucky Strike livery on the left side of the car and the 555 livery on the right side, with a zipper in the middle of the nose. Starting in 2000, the team used only the Lucky Strike brand. The team was purchased outright by Honda partners in 2006, although Lucky Strike continued to sponsor the team until the end of that year. For races where tobacco branding was not permitted, the logo from Lucky Strike was blocked (from 1999 to 2004), replaced by "Run Free" elsewhere on the car (in 1999), changed to "Look Alike" (from 2000 to 2003), to a barcode with Formula 1 cars (in 2003-2004), to "Look left", "Look right" and "Do not walk" (in 2004) and "Racing Revolution" (in 2005–2006).

Lucky Strike was also the main sponsor of the Suzuki MotoGP team from the 1990 season to the 1997 season. American motorcycle racer Kevin Schwantz became the 1993 world champion riding the sponsored Suzuki RGV500 for Lucky Strike, and riders like Doug Chandler, Alex Barros and Daryl Beattie achieved several podiums and also victories on the Suzuki ''Lucky Strike''.

In popular culture

The cigarette brand is referenced in many modern media.

Art

American colonial cubist artist Stuart Davis depicted the mark in his 1921 painting, Lucky Strike.

Music

• The song "Devoto amor" of the Mexican blues band, Real de Catorce, says in his letter: "Look at this devoted love smoking Lucky Strike." Álbum "Contraley" of 1994.
• The song "Give it Back to the Indians" composed by Rodgers and Hart of the 1939 musical Too Many Girls contains a reference to Lucky Strike.
• The song "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed", written by Merle Travis, Eddie Kirk and Cliffie Stone in 1947, bears the name of an advertising slogan Lucky Strike.
• Mary Chapin Carpenter's song "Hero In Your Own Hometown" refers to "Luckys"
• The song "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" played by ZZ Top of his 1979 album Smell contains a reference to Lucky Strike.
• The song " Keeping the Faith" played by Billy Joel from his 1983 album An Innocent Man contains a reference to Lucky Strike.
• The song "Chain Smokin'" played by Morgan Wallen contains a reference to Lucky Strike.
• The song "These are My People" played by Rodney Atkins, refers to smoking Lucky Strike.
• The indie rock band of Mineapolis Howler based the art of his debut album "America Give Up" on a package Lucky Strike.
• A song that bears the name of cigarettes appears on the album Maroon 5, Overexposed .
• A song that bears the name of cigarettes appears on Troye Sivan's album, Bloom .
• The song "Then Came the Night" played by Tommy Shane Steiner a version of the same song by Trace Adkins mentions a cigarette Lucky Strike.
• Jason Aldean's "Back in this Cigarette" song refers to an ashtray full of Lucky Strike.
• Paul Silhan recorded a parody of Lou Christie's successful song "Lightnin 'Strikes" - entitled "Lightin" Up Lucky Strike Again" for his 1997 "Spinball Wizard" album. He played frequently at the time at The Rush Limbaugh Show.

Cinema

• In "Breathless" a girl (interpreted by Liliane Dreyfus) standing in front of a wall decoration made of empty boxes of Gauloises light a cigarette and affirms that she changed to Luckies.
• In the 1990 film Misery., the famous novelist Paul Sheldon played by James Caan has the habit of smoking a single cigarette Lucky Strike and drink a glass of Dom Perignon as long as it is about to finish the manuscript of a new novel.
• In the opening song "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" A package of Lucky Strike Original reds on a table.
• In the 1999 film "The Thirteenth Floor", you can see an advertising fence Lucky Strike on a road.
• In the 1990 film Goodfellas.You see Henry and Tommy selling cigarette cartons on the street and you can see boxes with logos Lucky Strike inside a truck.
• In the 1987 film "The Untouchables", Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) smokes Lucky Strike.

Television

• In the AMC television series, "Mad Men"Lucky Strike is an important client of the Sterling Cooper fictitious advertising agency. There is also a fictitious plot for the birth of the motto "It's Toasted", in the series 'episode pilot, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". You often see the main character, Don Draper, smoking Lucky Strike.
• In the NBC TV series, "Miami Vice"Lucky Strike is the favorite cigarette brand of the main character, Detective James "Sonny" Crockett. It is even seen by removing the filter from a different brand of cigarette in a particular episode to smoke more like a Lucky Strike.
• Sergeant Donald Malarkey, on the HBO TV show, "Band of Brothers", episode 6, shares cigarettes with sergeant Warren "Skip" Muck and first-class soldier Alex Penkala in a trench during a Christmas break from the fights. It recites the advertising slogan, "Lucky Strikes means fine tobacco", while distributing them. The Lucky Strike cigarettes stand out throughout the series.

Cigarette camp

"Lucky Strike" was the name of one of the "tent cities" temporary U.S. Army camps known as "Cigarette Camps", situated around the French port of Le Havre following its capture following the Allied D-Day invasion in mid- 1944.