Archive for the ‘Cigarette advertising’ Category
The state of cigarette advertising in Germany
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: Burton cigarettes, Camel, Lucky Strike, Winston
Leave a comment This blog draws many readers from searches for cigarette advertising. I have absolutely no idea why people search for cigarette advertising, but they do, and some of my poster snaps have been used by others for all sorts of purposes. Certainly since the pandemic – and perhaps more significantly, the growing importance of e-cigarettes and standard packaging with images of diseased lungs – I’ve been starved of content; and the advertising there has been, seems a shade unimaginative.
Take, for example, Winston (left). The end of the packet is shown to avoid the unpleasant images and also to show how fat is the packet, housing as it does enough cigarettes to kill an elephant. There is an inexplicable link made between the number of cigarettes, taste (grosser geschmack) and value (for money). Not much of a narrative. Winston is an ITG brand in the USA (Imperial tobacco) and is a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco in the rest of the world.
Burton goes for a similar approach, though these are selected by smokers because they are “your [killer] cigarette”. I was not previously aware of Burton cigarettes, but according to cigarettespedia (goodness, an encyclopaedia of cigarettes, soon no reason to come to this site at all), it is a Greek and German brand owned by Tabak House. Seemingly, the brand goes for cheap, and appeals to young people. The taste is, therefore, not really an issue. The nicotine is perhaps more important.
It is not all despair, though. Camel is persisting with its primary colours approach with a touch of marketing brilliance (only joking). These sticks are extra long and therefore extra enjoyable. The subtlety of the slogan doesn’t really translate. It it reflexive, which means the cigarettes enjoy themselves being extra long as well as the smoker? Why do I care?
Also back on the high street is Lucky Strike (Luckies). Of course, this advertising campaign is trying to convince someone that cigarettes are green. The filters here are made of paper (rather than cork?), so that is alright then. Strangely, consumers are advised to put the used filters in the regular waste rather than the recycling bin!
And finally, something I have not reported on before (because it is not common in Germany), is loose rolling tobacco. Spirit with Character, whatever that is supposed to mean attached to a product that has known lethal properties, is certainly attractive in packaging terms. American Spirit has been in all sorts of bother over the years in the US. The Truth Initiative reports that the brand has convinced its customers that the product is less-harmful than competitor products because it is organic. But ironically, the organic claim may well contribute to the product being more harmful than competitor brands with more nicotine by means of “more puffs per cigarette”. Hawk-eyed readers may also consider the use of a representation of a native American to sell a distinctly western capitalist product to be at best unsavoury. The brand is owned by Reynolds American, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco.
The welcome return of a pack of 20
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: Gauloises, vive le moment
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It is not entirely clear why cigarette advertising in Germany has been absent for most of the year. Obviously the pandemic has been significant – fewer people out-of-doors to see the posters. The marketing of e-cigarettes, too, is part of the story. The new modes of delivery are often owned by the same companies and the campaign budgets are being redirected.
So, it was a absolute delight – and surprise to see that Gauloises, the French brand owned by Imperial Tobacco – back on the streets. And what is more, still marketing under the Vive le Moment tag. And normal packets, too.
Of course the poster is the tried-and-tested. An attractive young woman (not yet with the mouth ulcers, discoloured teeth and diseased skin) sits with her feet up in a yard to an urban apartment – in Paris obviously. She is holding a cigarette that has just been lit. The tagline is “Für Momente, die dir gehören” – roughly translated as “for the moments you own”.
Classic advertising. But I tell you, for those moments, my thoughts do not turn to products that have a concentration of toxic chemicals in them. With the virus around there is enough trying to kill me without cigarettes adding to it. Or is it that the relatively young, need a helping hand with this death thing as the virus does not seem to be enough?
Cigarette advertising post-Covid lockdown
The last post I made on cigarette advertising in Germany was 10 February, just before Germany went into lockdown. Even then, I thought that cigarette advertising was on the wane and we were unlikely to see big cigarette campaigns by the big brands. One of the reasons for this was the growth of e-cigarettes. Campaign budgets were being transferred from authentic killing to massaged killing. The clearest indicator of that is the warning at the bottom of each advertisement. Traditional cigarette advertising (bottom right) says “smoking is deadly”. Advertising for the new delivery method of super-heated tobacco says “this way of smoking can damage your health and make you dependent”. And to demonstrate how cool we are – and is this method of killing or maiming otherwise healthy people, let’s have a picture of an attractive women who nicely illustrates the product “glo”. The important thing for the tobacco company behind it, British American Tobacco, is that it is real tobacco from real tobacco plants, with real killer chemicals.
I have been out-and-about in Munich recently. Finally, I found a couple of cigarette advertising posters. Take the first one (right), I may have got the translation wrong, but maybe the packet is big enough to act as a parasol? Ho ho ho! There is some double meaning there that defeats me with my limited translation skills. Actually, I think one could actually live in the box, let alone use it as a parasol.
The second poster (left) goes for the time theme. If I am reading it right, there are so many cigarettes in the packet that in getting through them one has the time to name some woman? Again, this may well be marketing genius, but I am happy with my failure to appreciate perceived marketing cleverness on products that are designed to kill and maim.
Just when I thought there would be no more cigarette advertising
Then Lucky Strike emerges w
ith an old campaign. The “show the packet and then write something nonsensical” campaign is back. Eine für Länger. Als Eine Nacht seems to defy translation. One for longer. As a night? Even native speakers make no sense of it. This is no fun. Where are the beautiful people with cigarettes? Where are the people in bathtubs? The zest for life and inevitable death? The attitude? Come on, if cigarette advertising is back, make it interesting.
Lucky Strike inanities persist
As observed in my previous post on not-so-Luckies, the current campaign shows an unattractive packet of cigarettes with some silly statement that one is meant willingly to waste time with. So, here (left), something like “make a compliment. Simply. A stranger.” Oh yes! That is what cigarettes do for you. Only smoking strangers are willing to share your lethal habit and smell like an ashtray.
Let’s try another one (right). “Newly fallen in love. In 11 minutes. Offline…” I’ve no idea 
with that one. 11 minutes to smoke and fall in love with those that you have previously complimented in the cold and wet smoking shelter provided by your employer?
Thank goodness for JPS (left). Really simple until…one looks closer and there is a picture of one of the earlier advertising posters with those lovely young people slowly killing themselves whilst waiting to get into a festival of some kind. Interesting.
Lucky Strike plasters Germany Summer 2019
Ok, 
the summer winner is Lucky Strike. Everywhere one finds their inane slogans. Here (left) “Tell. A Story. With six words”. As if I have nothing better to do. OK. I rise to the challenge. “Smoking these brings premature, painful death.” Or BAT knowingly sells addictive and lethal products.” Do I win?
Come on Germany – or at least the Government – fall into line with the rest of Europe and end cigarette advertising, at least on the streets.
Summer 2019 cigarette advertising, Germany
Filed under: Cigarette advertising, JSP | Tags: Camel, JPS, Winston
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The current crop of cigarette billboards in Germany are interesting. JPS continues its “death is better value than you might think” campaign (left, apologies about the shadow; confirms it is summer, I suppose). JPS is a curious brand that seems not really to know what it stands for. For example, elsewhere in this blog are examples of JPS and young creative people as well as JPS innovative packaging.
Then there is Winston. Not a regular high-street advertiser, but when it is there, one wonders about the
campaign managers. The latest, “for short journeys, for long journeys” is particularly fatuous. That aside, the packaging now carrying acute warnings about the effects of smoking on health seems to suggest that blindness is a badge of honour. Maybe, another interpretation from the one probably meant, blindness is the short journey and the longer journey is death? Especially if one goes for the bargain 36 cigarettes for 10 Euros?
By contrast, Camel persists with the primary colours campaign (seemingly the “Let’s Camel” campaign) and has moved away from the “Do your thing” nonsense. So, Camel eschews the health impacts by focusing on the top of the package. The tagline seems pretty meaningless “spontaneously simply ride into the blue” – rather literal, I know, but it sometimes works with German. In line with Winston and JPS, there are 35 cigarettes for a tenner.
I found another example of this campaign on one of those circular billboards which
point out to the road. These can be hazardous to photograph for obvious reasons.
So this one (right) tells us that it really really tastes good. Having never smoked, I cannot vouch one way or the other for this claim. It is still deadly. Echt!
At last, something to smoke
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: Down to Earth, JSP, West
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It has been a quiet time on the cigarette advertising front. Those halcyon days of the Gauloises couple in the bath and the Pall Mall happy couples through the seasons. seem to have left us. The only narrative advertising at the moment is JPS (latest left). It’s couples again, one female, one male smoking, the other two watching them kill themselves. This time we are stuck in a queue on a dirt track of some description in Germany (check out the number plate); though there is some bunting on the side and a small roadside tent to suggest this is some festival thing. They have a cool box being
used as a seat.
That is genius in comparison to West’s latest advertising. In-your-face West (right). Pretty meaningless. “Gute Aussichten- Top Preis” Good view/outlook? This is all about price, though. 35 fags for 9 Euros. Red or silver. Made for good times, apparently.
And then there is…Down to Earth rolling tobacco. New up on billboards – though this one of an evening is obscured by a blue van. The campaign approach is not to disguise the harmful effects of tabacco; indeed, quite the opposite. They seem to be proud of their product’s contraceptive properties. Or even its carcinogenic qualities.
Thanks to Wikipedia for the following historical background to the product:
The company was founded in 1982 by Bill Drake, author of The Cultivators Handbook of Natural Tobacco, Robert Marion, Chris Webster, and Eb Wicks, a plumbing contractor who took out a loan to finance the startup. In January 2002 the company was acquired by Reynolds American and is now a wholly owned independent subsidiary of Reynolds American, which is in turn 42% owned by British American Tobacco. Japan Tobacco announced in September 2015 that it acquired the right to sell Natural American Spirit products in markets outside the United States.
Just when I thought cigarette advertising was over in Germany…
…JSP is back with its “young people sitting outside” campaign. This bunch are seemingly moving house and having a cigarette in between the heavy lifting. As usual, two are smoking with the others looking on. The strapline does not make any sense to me “Mach den Umzug zum Umtrunk” – is that not something like “make the move to drink?” Whatever, it was not worth waiting for.
Be informed 