SMOKIN': CLASSIC CIGARETTE COMMERCIALS collected on DVD

BY JAMES PLATH

I grew up thinking the Marlboro Man from Marlboro cigarettes was the original cool dude, and as late as "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV shows were being sponsored by tobacco companies. When I worked construction the summer after I graduated from college I saw just how ingrained smoking had become in American culture. The guys took a smoke break, and when I sat down with them, sans cigarette, the boss said, "Jimmy, what are you doing?" "Break," I said. "SMOKE break," he said. "Get back to work." So I took up smoking.

For people who remember those years, "Smokin': Classic Cigarette Commercials" will feel nostalgic in a pollute-your-lungs sort of way. And for those too young to remember? It's a fascinating look at how big business infiltrated TV in a big way, and then was shut out completely by the government. Too bad legislators don't do the same thing with all political advertising.

"Smokin'" comes out on DVD on May 17. Here's the description from S'More Entertainment:

Rabid fans of AMC´s "Mad Men" will appreciate the upcoming "Smokin': Classic Cigarette Commercials," a historical perspective on the burgeoning tobacco industry and its foray into popular culture via television advertising.
The first known advertisement in the USA was for the snuff and tobacco products of P. Lorillard and Company and was placed in the New York daily paper in 1789. Local and regional newspapers were used because of the small-scale production and transportation of these goods. The first real brand name to become known on a bigger scale in the USA was "Bull Durham" which emerged in 1868, with the advertising placing the emphasis on how easy it was "to roll your own".

By the last quarter of the 19th century, magazines and newspapers were featuring the colorful artwork adorning cigarette packaging and advertising was significantly helped by the distribution of free or subsidized branded cigarettes to troops during World War I and World War II.

It wasn´t long before cigarette advertising inculcated popular culture via television. In the early days of television, sponsors wanted popular TV characters to interact with their products. That was especially true of cigarette manufacturers. One of the most famous television jingles of the era came from an advertisement for Winston cigarettes. The slogan "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should!" proved to be catchy, and is still quoted today. When used to introduce "Gunsmoke," two gun shots were heard in the middle of the jingle just when listeners were expecting to hear the word "cigarette." Other popular slogans from the 1960s were "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!," which was used to advertise Tareyton cigarettes, and "I'd Walk a Mile for a Camel."

Synopsis:
Before tobacco companies were banned from television advertising, they marketed cigarettes to adults, minorities, teens, and even children. Marlboro was for he-men—burly cowboys that drove cattle, hunted wild boar, and were admired by hen-pecked husbands. Newport´s jingle and images showed you how to "fit in," and be smooth, like their taste. Lucky Strike played up a more innocent side, having a teenage girl sing their praises, and use remarks like "Golly!"

This fun collection of television cigarette commercials dates from the ´50s through ´60s (they were officially banned on January 1, 1971). It charts how shrewd advertising agencies understood our American culture, and used that knowledge to make smoking cigarettes appear to be cool, hip, and even safe.