Archive for the ‘Cigarette advertising’ Category
Filtered French chic
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: Gauloises, JSP, Lucky Strike
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It’s all in the filters at the moment. The delivery of carcinogens to willing humans takes great scientific endeavour. The current JSP campaign in Germany leads on this and takes on Lucky Strike and Marlboro whose new filter, Advance, is advertised to build anticipation as if it was a Star Wars film (“Are you ready for Advance?).
I apologise for the poor quality of this picture – it was taken at night across a railway platform. However, “Qualität die sich lassen kann” loosely translates as “allow yourself quality” coupled with “Jetzt mit festerem Filter” earns the ad agency its fee. And the smoker cancer.
Thank goodness, then, for the creativity of Gauloises’ ad agency. Vive le 
Moment has the obligatory bearded man in a tuxedo, stylishly arriving at some gig with his bicycle slung over his shoulder (easier to ride, I would have thought). “Enzigartiger Stil, grossartiger geschmack. Meine Wahl” reads as “Unique style, great taste. My choice”. How clever is that; I mean, what a fantastic play on the concept of style? So cool.
By the way, just behind the door is the Grim Reaper.
B&H marketers seem to go to the wrong gigs
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: B&H, Benson and Hedges
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It seems to me that only at truly awful gigs is it better to stand outside with a bunch of nicotine addicts rather than enjoy to music of a live band. And even then I am not sure. Seemingly not in B&H world (left). The caption reads “Inside plays the band. Outside the music”. Essentially, spending time with/being ignored by (as the woman seems to be) two unshaven men is better than watching Richard Hawley, for example. I think not.
New death delivery method
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: Lucky Strike, marlboro
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I wish I was as advanced as the product developers at Marlboro (bottom rigtht) and Lucky Strike (left). Is this the innovation equivalent of vinyl to cassette in the music industry (i.e. not really)? So, there are new filters on the market delivering “a cleaner taste” (Marlboro does not even bother to accommodate the language of the smoker, in this case German) and mildness through a “new flow filter” (Lucky Strike).
It does seem that the designers of the Marlboro poster did not trial it properly. On this example, if the
poster is not perfectly pasted on the billboard, it does not matter how advanced the filter, the cigarette itself seems a shade, what can I say, bent. Never mind, advanced cigarettes are just as effective at delivering death as their predecessors.
Never smart, always square
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: John Player Special
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Talking of John Player, here’s the latest offering from the JPS brand’s autumn campaign. As if smoking is not enough of a death wish, this bloke (wearing his suit and satchel) is smoking whilst on a skateboard on a busy road probably following lots of VW diesel cars just to show how cool he is. To make matters even worse for the brand, its own strapline is “Born that way…” Indeed!
Time to argue
I remember many years ago when I first went to Northern College in Barnsley in the early 1980s, many of the students smoked in class. This was allowed, at least for the first year of my studies. Bizarre to think about it now. One of the favourite brands at that time was John Player Superkings. Super meant, very large. As a consequence, they took longer for the smoker to finish. This enabled us passive smokers, more free pleasure.
Pall Mall seems to be visiting the past with a series of advertisement posters in Germany for their equivalent brand, Extra Cut (above left). The strapline translates, I think, as “about the taste, we can argue for longer”. Though the extremely intelligent and witty people at the ad agency don’t really think that the couple in the picture are arguing about the taste. One can tell by the expressions on their faces, I think. He’s just being a cad. She’s having a fag because he’s a cad. Never mind, there is always death to look forward to. That will give them something to argue about. Not much pleasure there.
L&M beach women
The L&M brand is the summer winner in German cigarette advertising. Munich is blanketed with this idyllic image of four women enjoying the beach, two of whom are smoking. What can one say about the strapline? “Without extras and everything inclusive”, including chronic disease. Enjoy the peace and inclusivity whilst you can, I say.
More bearded men
JSP’s summer campaign seems to suggest that it is cool to be a hipster. Two such men take time out to kill themselves (or at least one of them, the other gets it passively). “Always easy going, never boring”, claims the strapline.
Talking about boring, what about Pall Mall (right)?
“tastes superior and longer” – the tobacco sticks seem to be longer in length than those of the competitors. This is a stripped down version of an earlier poster.
L&M for men
L&M has brought back the unshaven man after 3 years (left). Be free, they say AND be an individual, seems to be the strapline. I think the woman on the left needs to be careful, she might find her hair ignited rather than her heart.
Cigarette advertising – Vive death
Filed under: Cigarette advertising | Tags: Gauloises, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall
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Munich’s Laim S-Bahn station is the place to see the most recent billboards featuring cigarette brands. Last night I saw two splendid examples; one for Pall Mall (left) and the other for that oh so French fun brand of death, Gauloises (bellow right). There’s also a Lucky Strike effort (below left).
Pall Mall move away from the Pall Mall sex couple and revert back to selling on the basis of those rather smart packages. The strapline does not translate very well, but let me try ‘way ahead on taste’. How would you know? Better than those coffee flavours by Lucky Strike?
Much more accessible is the Gauloises campaign, Vive le Moment! Here we have a bunch of blokes falling into a pool. Great fun. It’s a warm day, let’s fall into the pool and be cool and cooled. Better to drown than to die of cancer, I guess.
Finally, Lucky strike persists with the strikethrough campaign. “Lots of meaningless advertising” states the original. Strikethrough and you get some more meaningless advertising: “more content”. Yeah. Lethal chemicals. Keep up the good work.
Too hot to smoke
Munich early summer is hot this year. Cigarette advertising is in a bit of a lull. I have to say that collecting these images is getting a bit boring and predictable, but readers predominantly visit this site to see them.
So, Camel is focusing on its colourful “untamed” (since 1913) angle. 
Certainly the camel is iconic and does not need the name to be recognisable. I have no idea how valuable it is as a brand in Germany. Very, I imagine, if these images are anything to go by.
Be informed 