Cigarette commercials on TV

[wa2ise]

Remember back in the olden days of TV when cigarette commercials were allowed? I remember one where Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble were hawking Winston Cigarettes. The below pix are photoshopped, of course the teacher wouldn't let the TV play commercials in class!

I recall seeing some live commercials with Lucy and Desi when they were on a game show (I think it was 'I've Got A Secret'). Their cartoon likeness(es?) also did some cigarette commercials. Most no one seems to be familiar with these cartoon characters as they are almost never seen in the reruns, although they came along later in the run of I Love Lucy when it went to an hour show shortly before they broke up.

IIRC the last cigarette commercials were in the very early 70's. One of the last were spots for Laredo roll your own.....you bought a can of tobacco, rolling papers, and a handheld machine that would roll your smokes. Can you imagine the super happy potheads from around that time? :-)

Anthony

[OvenMaster]

Oh, man. The Kent riverboat gambler, the Tareyton black-eyed people, Winston jingles, the fact that "you get a lot to like in a Marlboro, filtered flavor, pack or box!", the poor slobs that got their 100mm Benson & Hedges' bent because they were longer than anyone else's... Just think: commercials that had some imagination in them.

Tom

[jstout66]

I don't know if they had a similar commercial on tv, but my favorite cig ad is one that ran in print in the early 50's for Camel. I even have one framed. It's the one that states in large print "More Doctors Recommend Camels" and then they listed all the reasons why! LOL!!!

LSMFT: So round, so firm, so fully packed, so free and easy on the draw.
Who could forget the Lucky Strikes dancing cigarettes?

[Randy Bassham]

I remember Gary Moore on "I've Got a Secret" giving each of the contestants a complimentary carton of cigarettes.....I grew up watching all those commercials and never was inticed by one of them to smoke. IMHO there hasn't been any decent programming on network TV since tobacco commercials were banned.....Remember LS/MFT.....RB

[Chad Hauris]

It seems like www.archive.org has a video archive with video of old cigarette and other commercials from the 50's.

Here is a link directly to the cigarette section:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?qu...on%3Aprelinger

[VinylHanger]

Hey Chad, thanks for teh link. That site is freaking awesome. tons of great tunes as well. Streaming a '65 Greatful Dead show.

I remember that Doctor ad too. Here's a really spooky bit of trivia...Clark came out with one (if not the very first) filter tipped smokes in the 50's, just one minor pesky problem.......





The filter was made with ASBESTOS! No joke.

Anthony

[Sandy G]

I always liked the B&H ads that had that "la-la la-la,la-la, la-la" theme. Boy ! You gotta think the networks thought their throats had been cut when cigarettes got kicked off the air.Didn't really do any good, either. In 1968, Philip Morris sold a Billion cigarettes. They sold the same amount in 1980-long after the "ban" had set in.-Sandy G.

[domfjbrown]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

In 1968, Philip Morris sold a Billion cigarettes. They sold the same amount in 1980-long after the "ban" had set in.-Sandy G.

Aaaah - but the ban MUST have been working, since otherwise the number of people smoking would have gone up by 1980, meaning Philip Morris would have been selling a SHEDLOAD more.

"I'll have another cigarette
and curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid get"

I really should give up...

One cigarette promo that comes to mind is another that involved the cast of a TV show. Usually run at the end of The Beverly Hillbillies, it was for Winston, and as I recall it had the whole cast sitting in the truck. Instead of the tag line "Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should" Granny would say "like a cigarette had oughta"

[Big Dave]

I have a classic commercial DVD with many tobacco ads. There is one for Kool. It is the one with the carottn penguin walking the hot coals. I am enjoying the throat soothing comfort of Kool now. There is also an ad for Kent. I believe it to be one of the last smoke ads. Wasn't Kent the last cigarette commercial to air?

Mary Tyler Moore played a dancing box of cigarettes very early in her career, you can't mistake those legs!

Anthony

[veg-o-matic]

Originally Posted by heathkit tv

Mary Tyler Moore played a dancing box of cigarettes very early in her career, you can't mistake those legs!

Anthony

Naw, she was Happy Hotpoint. She was also in some detective show, but only her legs showed. Richard Diamond? What was it?