<^> More Doctors smoke Camels <^>

Interesting article on Fags, cancer sticks, grits, and coffin nails from the late 1940's.....

ref - More Doctors Smoke Camels

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Unfortunately it was in 1939, before WW2 even started that Raymond Loewy (the famous designer of consumer products) had bet the CEO (G.W. Hill) of American Tobacco $50,000 that he could design a better package for their product while they were hunting together. Loewy then quickly designed the "new" white background, placed the "target" on both sides, and sales increased nearly 40% the following year, and he collected his winnings ($50,000), plus his normal fee. So it was before the war, still a nice piece of PR.

Unfortunately for that bit of patriotic flag waving, "Lucky Strike Green has gone to War!" is mostly PR bull. But, with a clean white pack replacing the original green one, and its block lettering and cryptic legend "L.S./M.F.T. -- Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco" imitating Morse code, Luckies increased its sales 40 percent. They announced that the copper-based green paint they supposedly had been using in their labels was being saved for the war effort, but Luckies' real impetus was profit increase and something new, simply a more "modern" design.

Before WW2 even started up, studies had shown women (who were then taking up smoking in appreciable numbers) didn't like the dark green package, and it was also becoming increasingly less popular with men. The decision to redesign the product's "look" was simply a business choice, had been investigated, and likely would have been made war or no war. The overseas conflict merely presented Lucky Strike with an unparalleled marketing opportunity to tie its redesign to the war effort, thus allowing them to reap the benefits of "patriotism". Though the term hadn't been invented yet, this was spin doctoring at its finest. Some of this is from the Snopes "Urban myth" section:


snopes.com: Lucky Strike Logo Color Change

That site has it sources listed as well.

And some of it is from Loewy’s online biography, I am a giant Raymond Loewy fan. I still think the Avanti is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, but then again the "paint scheme" for Air Force One ain't too shabby either! Raymond did that for Jackie Kennedy, at her request. Still pretty.

 

very interesting articles, thanks for sharing

 

As I already told, I know more old drunks than old doctors...

 

Hee,hee! Mayhaps it is the crowd you run with rather than a statistical reality?

 

Clint,

Also a fan of Loewy's work.... not a fan of Greyhound bus travel, but a huge fan of their design.

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