Lucky Strike
Encyclopedia
Lucky Strike is a brand of cigarette
owned by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
and British American Tobacco
groups. Often referred to as "Luckies", Lucky Strike was the top selling cigarette in the United States during the 1930s.
, in 1871 as cut-plug chewing tobacco
and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company
(ATC), and Lucky Strike would later prove to be its answer to R. J. Reynolds' Camel
.
In 1917, the brand started using the slogan
"It's Toasted" to inform consumers about the manufacturing method in which the tobacco
is toasted rather than sun-dried, a process touted as making the cigarette's taste more desirable.
In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as a route to thinness for women. One typical ad said, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Sales of Lucky Strikes increased by more than 300% during the first year of the advertising campaign. Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion sold in 1930, making Lucky Strike the leading brand nationwide.
Lucky Strike's association with radio music programs began during the 1920s on NBC. By 1928, the bandleader and vaudeville
producer B. A. Rolfe was performing on radio and recording as "B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra" for Edison Records. In 1935, ATC began to sponsor 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's countdown catapulted the brand's success, remaining popular for 25 years. The shows capitalized on the tobacco auction
theme and each ended with the signature phrase "Sold, American." The company's advertising campaigns generally featured a theme that stressed the quality of the tobacco purchased at auction for use in making Lucky Strike cigarettes and claimed that the higher quality tobacco resulted in a cigarette with better flavor. American engaged in a series of advertisements using Hollywood actors as endorsers of Lucky Strike, including testimonials from Douglas Fairbanks
concerning the cigarette's flavor.
Lucky Strike was also a sponsor of comedian Jack Benny
's radio and TV show, The Jack Benny Show, which was also introduced as The Lucky Strike Program.
_qualifying_at_usgp_2005.jpg)
As a result of British American Tobacco
plc buying out American Tobacco Company in 1976, Lucky Strike came under control of BAT. The company acquired Formula 1s Tyrrell Racing
team in 1997 and rebranded it as British American Racing
the following year, sponsoring the team with its Lucky Strike and stablemate 555
brands. The team was bought outright by partners Honda
by 2006, though Lucky Strike continued to sponsor the team until the end of that year.
The brand's signature dark green pack was changed to white in 1942. In a famous advertising campaign that used the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war", the company claimed the change was made because the copper
used in the green color was needed for World War II
. American Tobacco actually used chromium
to produce the green ink, and copper to produce the gold-colored trim. A limited supply of each was available, and substitute materials made the package look drab. However, the truth of the matter was that the white package was introduced to modernize the label and to increase the appeal of the package among female smokers; market studies showed that the green package was not found attractive to women, who had become an important consumer of tobacco products. The war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while appearing patriotic at the same time.
The message "L.S.M.F.T." ("Lucky Strike means fine tobacco") was introduced on the package in 1955.
In 1978 and 1994, export rights and U.S. rights were purchased by Brown & Williamson
. In the 1960s, filtered styles were launched in addition to a mentholated version called "Lucky Strike Green". This time "Green" was referring to menthol
and not to the overall package color. In late 2006, both the Full Flavored and Light filtered varieties of Lucky Strike cigarettes were discontinued in North America. However, Lucky Strike will continue to have marketing and distribution support in territories controlled by British American Tobacco
as a global drive brand. In addition, R. J. Reynolds continues to market the original, non-filter Lucky Strikes in the United States. Lucky Strikes currently have a small base of smokers.
In 2007, a new packaging of Lucky Strikes was released, with a two-way opening which split seven cigarettes from the rest. In the same year, the company used the world's smallest man, He Pingping
, in their ad campaigns.
In 2009, Lucky Strike Silver (the brand marketed as lighter) changed their UK packets from the quintessential red design to blue, albeit with a red teaser outer covering the packet.
The cigarette brand is referenced in many modern forms of media. In the MSX2 version of the video game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
, a fictionalized version of the brand called Lucky Striker is said to be the protagonist's favorite. In the Tom Waits
song "Kentucky Avenue", the first-person speaker refers to his "half pack of Lucky Strikes". In the ZZ Top
song "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", the second verse has the lines "They sportin' short dresses, wearin' spike-heeled shoes, They smokin' Lucky Strikes, wearing nylon too." Lucky Strikes can also be seen on a piano in Ralph Bakshi
's 1981 animated film American Pop
.
In the AMC show Mad Men
, Lucky Strike is a major client of the Madison Avenue advertising agency Sterling Cooper (and later its successor agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce), from the first season of the show until midway through the fourth season. The plot line of the show's pilot deals with the struggles of the firm's creative director Don Draper
(played by Jon Hamm) to come up with a new advertising campaign for the cigarettes, because new regulations mean that the brand can no longer claim to be healthier than any other cigarette, which has been the cornerstone of their advertising strategy. In the fourth season of the show, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce loses the Lucky Strike account to rival firm BBDO
, which was in fact the real life advertising agency that Lucky Strike used.
Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms
handed out Lucky Strike cigarettes, which were his personal brand of choice, in his Senate office to meeting attendants until it became "utterly unfashionable."
Billy Joel's
1983 song Keeping the Faith
from the album An Innocent Man
mentions the brand in the lyric "I took a fresh pack of Luckies and a mint called Sen-Sen. My old man's Trojans
and his Old Spice
after shave."
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
owned by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company , based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, is the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S. . RJR is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc...
and British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco p.l.c. is a global tobacco company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second largest quoted tobacco company by global market share , with a leading position in more than 50 countries and a presence in more than 180 countries...
groups. Often referred to as "Luckies", Lucky Strike was the top selling cigarette in the United States during the 1930s.
History
The brand was first introduced by R.A. Patterson of Richmond, VirginiaRichmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, in 1871 as cut-plug chewing tobacco
Chewing tobacco
Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco (also known colloquially as hoobastank, backy, tobac, doogooos,Hogleg, chewpoos, chits, chewsky, chawsky, dip, flab, chowers, guy, or a wad, as well as referred to as dipsky, snuff, a pinch, a yopper, a Packing a bomb, a tobbackey or packing a...
and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company
American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company...
(ATC), and Lucky Strike would later prove to be its answer to R. J. Reynolds' Camel
Camel (cigarette)
Camel is a brand of cigarettes that was introduced by American company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in the summer of 1913. Most current Camel cigarettes contain a blend of Turkish tobacco and Virginia tobacco. Early in 2008 the blend was changed as was the package design.-History:In 1913, R.J...
.
In 1917, the brand started using the slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
"It's Toasted" to inform consumers about the manufacturing method in which the tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
is toasted rather than sun-dried, a process touted as making the cigarette's taste more desirable.
In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as a route to thinness for women. One typical ad said, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Sales of Lucky Strikes increased by more than 300% during the first year of the advertising campaign. Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion sold in 1930, making Lucky Strike the leading brand nationwide.
Lucky Strike's association with radio music programs began during the 1920s on NBC. By 1928, the bandleader and vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
producer B. A. Rolfe was performing on radio and recording as "B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra" for Edison Records. In 1935, ATC began to sponsor Your Hit Parade
Your Hit Parade
Your Hit Parade, is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or...
, featuring North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
tobacco auctioneer Lee Aubrey "Speed" Riggs (later, another tobacco auctioneer from Lexington, Kentucky, F.E. Boone, was added). The weekly radio show's countdown catapulted the brand's success, remaining popular for 25 years. The shows capitalized on the tobacco auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
theme and each ended with the signature phrase "Sold, American." The company's advertising campaigns generally featured a theme that stressed the quality of the tobacco purchased at auction for use in making Lucky Strike cigarettes and claimed that the higher quality tobacco resulted in a cigarette with better flavor. American engaged in a series of advertisements using Hollywood actors as endorsers of Lucky Strike, including testimonials from Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
concerning the cigarette's flavor.
Lucky Strike was also a sponsor of comedian Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
's radio and TV show, The Jack Benny Show, which was also introduced as The Lucky Strike Program.
British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco p.l.c. is a global tobacco company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second largest quoted tobacco company by global market share , with a leading position in more than 50 countries and a presence in more than 180 countries...
plc buying out American Tobacco Company in 1976, Lucky Strike came under control of BAT. The company acquired Formula 1s Tyrrell Racing
Tyrrell Racing
The Tyrrell Racing Organisation was an auto racing team and Formula One constructor founded by Ken Tyrrell which started racing in 1958 and started building its own cars in 1970. The team experienced its greatest success in the early 1970s, when it won three drivers' championships and one...
team in 1997 and rebranded it as British American Racing
British American Racing
British American Racing was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year...
the following year, sponsoring the team with its Lucky Strike and stablemate 555
State Express 555
State Express 555 is a brand of cigarette manufactured by British American Tobacco. It was first launched in 1895 and is a very popular brand in Asia, especially China where it is BAT's most popular brand.-Sponsorship:...
brands. The team was bought outright by partners Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
by 2006, though Lucky Strike continued to sponsor the team until the end of that year.
The brand's signature dark green pack was changed to white in 1942. In a famous advertising campaign that used the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war", the company claimed the change was made because the copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
used in the green color was needed for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. American Tobacco actually used chromium
Chromium
Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...
to produce the green ink, and copper to produce the gold-colored trim. A limited supply of each was available, and substitute materials made the package look drab. However, the truth of the matter was that the white package was introduced to modernize the label and to increase the appeal of the package among female smokers; market studies showed that the green package was not found attractive to women, who had become an important consumer of tobacco products. The war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while appearing patriotic at the same time.
In 1978 and 1994, export rights and U.S. rights were purchased by Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
. In the 1960s, filtered styles were launched in addition to a mentholated version called "Lucky Strike Green". This time "Green" was referring to menthol
Menthol
Menthol is an organic compound made synthetically or obtained from peppermint or other mint oils. It is a waxy, crystalline substance, clear or white in color, which is solid at room temperature and melts slightly above. The main form of menthol occurring in nature is -menthol, which is assigned...
and not to the overall package color. In late 2006, both the Full Flavored and Light filtered varieties of Lucky Strike cigarettes were discontinued in North America. However, Lucky Strike will continue to have marketing and distribution support in territories controlled by British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco p.l.c. is a global tobacco company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second largest quoted tobacco company by global market share , with a leading position in more than 50 countries and a presence in more than 180 countries...
as a global drive brand. In addition, R. J. Reynolds continues to market the original, non-filter Lucky Strikes in the United States. Lucky Strikes currently have a small base of smokers.
In 2007, a new packaging of Lucky Strikes was released, with a two-way opening which split seven cigarettes from the rest. In the same year, the company used the world's smallest man, He Pingping
He Pingping
He Pingping was, according to the Guinness World Records, the world's shortest man who was able to walk.- Early and personal life :He measured 74 cm tall, and was the third child of a family in Huade county, in the city of Ulanqab in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. He had...
, in their ad campaigns.
In 2009, Lucky Strike Silver (the brand marketed as lighter) changed their UK packets from the quintessential red design to blue, albeit with a red teaser outer covering the packet.
Cultural references
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
is an overhead stealth action game that was originally released by Konami in for the MSX2 computer standard exclusively in Japan. Metal Gear 2 was directed and written by Hideo Kojima, who also designed the MSX2 version of the original Metal Gear...
, a fictionalized version of the brand called Lucky Striker is said to be the protagonist's favorite. In the Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
song "Kentucky Avenue", the first-person speaker refers to his "half pack of Lucky Strikes". In the ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
song "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", the second verse has the lines "They sportin' short dresses, wearin' spike-heeled shoes, They smokin' Lucky Strikes, wearing nylon too." Lucky Strikes can also be seen on a piano in Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
's 1981 animated film American Pop
American Pop
American Pop is a 1981 American animated musical drama film produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. The film tells the story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music....
.
In the AMC show Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
, Lucky Strike is a major client of the Madison Avenue advertising agency Sterling Cooper (and later its successor agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce), from the first season of the show until midway through the fourth season. The plot line of the show's pilot deals with the struggles of the firm's creative director Don Draper
Don Draper
Donald "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by 2008 Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm. Until the third season finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper...
(played by Jon Hamm) to come up with a new advertising campaign for the cigarettes, because new regulations mean that the brand can no longer claim to be healthier than any other cigarette, which has been the cornerstone of their advertising strategy. In the fourth season of the show, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce loses the Lucky Strike account to rival firm BBDO
BBDO
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency began in 1891 with George Batten's Batten Company, and later in 1928, through a merger of BDO and Batten Co. the agency became BBDO...
, which was in fact the real life advertising agency that Lucky Strike used.
Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
handed out Lucky Strike cigarettes, which were his personal brand of choice, in his Senate office to meeting attendants until it became "utterly unfashionable."
Billy Joel's
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
1983 song Keeping the Faith
Keeping the Faith (song)
"Keeping the Faith" is a song by rock singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released from his 1983 album An Innocent Man. Written as a tribute to Bob Marley and reggae, it reached #18 on the main US Billboard Hot 100 chart and #3 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart...
from the album An Innocent Man
An Innocent Man
An Innocent Man is the ninth album by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel, released in 1983 .This album is Joel's tribute to the music of his childhood...
mentions the brand in the lyric "I took a fresh pack of Luckies and a mint called Sen-Sen. My old man's Trojans
Trojan (condoms)
Trojan is a brand name of condoms manufactured by the Church & Dwight Company. 70.5 percent of condoms purchased in United States drugstores are Trojan brand. Trojan began selling condoms in 1927 through an ad placed in a trade magazine for pharmacists....
and his Old Spice
Old Spice
Old Spice is a prominent American brand of male grooming products. It is manufactured by Procter & Gamble, which acquired the brand in 1990 from the Shulton Company.-History:...
after shave."
External links
- "BrandLucky Strike" at CigarettesPedia.com
- Gallery of classic graphic design featuring Lucky Strike cigarettes
- "Lucky Strikes?" by Barbara Mikelson at snopes.com (June 12, 2006)