– In the 20th century, the imagery of big tobacco permeated the public consciousness. Lucky Strike white packets, first sold in 1942, were designed by Raymond Loewy, the man behind the Coca-Cola logo, and are still remembered as milestone in modern design.
Packages of the most popular cigarette brands
– Advertisers focused their efforts on the glamour of the cigarette, with celebrity endorsements and slogans that said, out loud, that successful people smoke.
– Men were urged to join the likes of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in enjoying a Chesterfield, or John Wayne, who preferred Camels – or so a famous poster claimed in 1950. In 1954, another cowboy, the Marlboro Man, popularised the filter cigarette as a trophy of masculinity.
– The tobacco manufacturers soon turned their attentions to women. In 1968 the Philip Morris group released “a cigarette for women only”, the Virginia Slim, whose “you’ve come a long way, baby” publicity campaign made the cigarette a trophy of female emancipation.
– The culture of some sports became dependent upon tobacco-industry sponsorship. Embassy backed the big snooker and darts competitions and dished out free cigarettes to the players.
– In Formula 1, the entire look of cars and team uniforms was dictated by whichever tobacco brand was backing them. Before the 1960s, teams competed in their national colours. Team Lotus were the first, carrying the Gold Leaf logo at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix. The rest of the sport soon followed. McLaren cars were red and white for Marlboro for 20 years; Jordan cars turned yellow when Benson & Hedges began sponsoring them in 1996. Ferrari carried the Marlboro logo until 2007.
– In the UK, health warnings first appeared on cigarette packets in 1971, on the advice of the Royal College of Physicians. A ban on TV advertising for cigarettes followed in 1986 and a 2002 law banned almost all forms of promotion, including sporting events.
– The cigarette packet itself has become a battleground between marketers and regulators. All packets have carried health warnings since 2003, with much of the pack devoted to the warning.
