Cigarette commercials on TV

[Workingslug]

The ban even went into NASCAR as so many protested that they could no longer have the Winston 500.

My favorite were the Bensen and Hedges for their 100 mm and people always getting the longer cigarette caught in like the elevator doors, etc.

My Father-in-Law would always smoke the filterless Lucky Strikes. Unfortunately his smoking habit caught up with him and he died of cancer at age 62.

I can even remember that my teachers in elementary school were allowed to have their smoking breaks in the "Teacher's Lounge" during the day.

Like they say, "Times do change".

[bgadow]

I remember seeing my favorite lunch lady smoking in the back of the kitchen, & my 4th grade teacher I saw smoking one day. Really lost a lot of respect from that. The teacher, sure enough, died of cancer. One of our bus drivers would, on occasion, smoke a pipe while driving. A nice fella, he was a county commisioner at the time-what were they gonna do about it? Later the bus was driven by a farmer who often smoked cigarettes while driving, a little harder for me to excuse. I missed all those cigarette commerials, anyway. I guess other tobacco products are still allowed-I always happen upon that guy on the radio with the cigar show!

Happy Hotpoint, huh? Better call in the vice squad, she sounds like trouble!

[Tubejunke]

I'm 36 and I remember well seeing ciggarette comercials in the 70's. Seems like it was the mid to late 70s that they stopped. I always liked the 50's commercials I have seen in rerun. Lucky Strike, Old Gold, and Chesterfield dancing boxes or CALL FOR PHILLIP MORRIS...

What I fail to understand is how in a country seemingly hell bent on trash TV (and anything else trashy we can get spend our $$ on) we can have something as rediculous as a ciggarette comercial ban. It may have made some sence in an age of at least some inocense but NOW. Come on! I have always found it rediculous how we come up with things like that but it is perfectly fine to cator to the worst addictive drug on the face of the earth, alcohol.

Yes America its fine and dandy to use alcohol and/or be an alcoholic but dont you smoke marijuana or even ciggarettes. Which one would you say causes the most physical/social problems? Be honest. Sorry if I'm going off topic here.

Its all about $$ like everything else. At least the marijuana thing as opposed to alcohol. Now the tobacco thing I still dont understand.

Tube

[Chad Hauris]

Recently I have also seen more ads on TV for liquor such as Bacardi, Bailey's Irish Cream, etc. They are not too frequent though...at one time there was a voluntary ban by TV stations (I believe through the NAB) to not allow liquor advertising, but it seems like cable networks especially have kind of relaxed those rules.

Yes, only cigarette advertising was banned, not cigars or pipe tobacco...the only broadcast tobacco ads I have heard recently though, were on that talk radio program for cigars.

I can remember as late as the mid-90's when I was in school there were cigarette machines in the university dining hall.

[Eric H]

I was 11 when the last ad aired but they must have been really effective because I can still remember so many of them!

Benson & Hedges "silly millimeter longer" "You can take Salem out of the country but..." "I'd rather fight than switch" "Marlboro Country" "You've come a long way baby"...

Fortunantly I always hated the smell of the things and never took up the habit.



From TVparty.com:

"The last cigarette commercial (for Virginia Slims) was broadcast on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show at 11:59pm on January 1, 1971. It was expected to be devastating for the networks when tobacco ads were banned - but they did all right without them, in spite of immediately losing $220 million dollars a year in revenues."

http://www.tvparty.com/vaultcomcig.html

[Tubejunke]

[QUOTE=Eric H]"The last cigarette commercial (for Virginia Slims) was broadcast on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show at 11:59pm on January 1, 1971.QUOTE]

That must be specifically VA Slims because I'm pretty sure I saw ads on daytime television much later than 71.

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[orthophonic]

I think the silly millimeter longer was L & M

[veg-o-matic]

Originally Posted by orthophonic

I think the silly millimeter longer was L & M

Actually, it was Chesterfield 101s. I have a commercial for them and I was surprised. I didn't remember that Chesterfield even made a filter cigarette.

[bgadow]

How about this: some years back I filled out a survey in which I stated that my name was Mose Moots & that I smoked 4 packs of unfiltered Chesterfields per day. Also that I was age 88 (or something like that). I got mail for old Mose for awhile, but I guess they assume he is dead now as nothing comes anymore. I also filled out another under the name of Fibber Megee. Still get junkmail for Fibber now and again.

I grew up with parents that smoked heavily-my Dad is the original Kool Filter King! Still puffing away. That turned me off from ever so much as thinking about smoking, though both my sisters had the habit until recently. I still remember being about 4 or 5 years old & I knew, from the American Lung Association commercials on tv, not to smoke. On TV they showed a cross so I remember when my grandmother would light up her Winston I would make a cross with my fingers & say "don't smoke!" and this would get a big laugh out of everyone. She just puffed away. Was still puffing when she was on oxygen, right up until she died. Puff, puff.

Hey Fibber, don't open that closet!

True and worthless although humorous tidbit.....my hero WC Fields had a radio show for a while which was sponsored by Lucky Strike...seems he got into a bit of trouble when they noticed him increasingly speaking about his son Chester.....Chester Fields...get it? Turns out he took a bribe from Chesterfield to plug their smokes. Whatta guy!

Anthony