Lucky Strike Red

Description

Lucky Strike

Lucky Strike Original Red

Flavor

Packaging

Pricing

 

Manufacturer: Bentoel Group

License: British American Tobacco (BAT)

Luckies distinctive taste in inspirited by the original recipe.  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.

History

Lucky Strike brand was introduced in 1871 by the company R.A. Patterson in the USA as chewing tobacco (many sources mention Matt Tellman as the founder of Luckies, but significant information about him does not exist). The founder of Luckies was inspired by the era’s rush for gold searching. Only some of the gold diggers (about four out of 1000) were fortunate enough to find gold and this was often referred to as a lucky strike. By choosing this expression as the product’s name, it meant consumers who were choosing the brand were lucky, as they were choosing a top-quality blend. Lucky Strike was a brand of chewing tobacco, and by the early 1900s, it had evolved into a cigarette.

The brand was first introduced by R.A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as cut-plug chewing tobacco and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company (ATC).
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 cigarettes taste delicious.

Late 1920s

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.[2]

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”.[3]

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, often described as delicious due to the tobacco being toasted.[3]

Sponsorship

Lucky Strike was also a sponsor of comedian Jack Benny’s radio and TV show, The Jack Benny Program, which was also introduced as The Lucky Strike Program.
Lucky Strike factories in Durham, NC

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.[4] 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.[5]

The white package actually 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 important consumers of tobacco products. The war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while appearing patriotic at the same time.[5]

Famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy was challenged by company president George Washington Hill to improve the existing green and red package, with a $50,000 bet at stake. Loewy changed the background from green to white, making it more attractive to women, as well as cutting printing costs by eliminating the need for green dye. He also placed the Lucky Strike target logo on both sides of the package, a move that increased both visibility and sales. Hill paid off the bet.[6]

The message “L.S.M.F.T.” (“Lucky Strike means fine tobacco”) was introduced on the package in 1945.

Lucky Strike was one of the brands included in the C-rations provided to US combat troops during the Second World War. Each C ration of the time included, among other items, 9 cigarettes of varying brands because at the time, top military brass thought that tobacco was essential to the morale of soldiers fighting on the front lines. The other cigarette brands included in the C-rations were Camel, Chelsea, Chesterfield, Craven “A”-Brand, Old Gold, Philip Morris, Player’s, Raleigh, and Wings. The practice of including cigarettes in field rations continued during the Korean and Vietnam wars, ending around 1975 or 1976 with the growing knowledge that smoking caused various kinds of health problems.[7] [su_service title=”Product Summary” icon=”icon: barcode”]

1 carton contains 10 packs.

1 pack contains 20 cigarettes.

Tar Volume 8 mg Nicotine Volume 0.7 mg[/su_service]