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

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

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

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?

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

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?query=cigarette%20AND%20mediatype%3Amov ies%20AND%20collection%3Aprelinger

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

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

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.

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

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"

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?

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".

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!

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

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.

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. :tongue:



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

[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.

Tube

Here is an interesting report summarizing cigarette advertising on TV by a graduate student and professor at the University of North Texas:

http://www.rtvf.unt.edu/people/craig/pdfs/tvsmoke.pdf

It states that the cigarette ad ban on TV in the U.S.A. went into effect midnight, Jan. 1, 1971. If a station was airing cig ads after that they may have been just trying to sneak past the ban hoping they wouldn't get caught.

Wow! I must have a better memory than I thought. I could have sworn there were Marlboro commercials up to like maybe 76. Oh well! No matter. I still think the whole attitude toward the tobacco industry is rediculous. Now there is some snotty attitude in business that smoking is some kind of bad image. I recently got a call from a District Manager riding by my store telling me to not smoke around customers. I was outside for Christs sake. Not too many years ago it was commonplace to have board meetings in smoke filled rooms. People smoked on TV talk shows. (Johnny Carson) If you didnt smoke you just dealt with it. Now I am realistic enough to understand that it should only be allowed in a properly ventilated room. Everyone deserves equal consideration. Even smokers....I think I'll quit everything and become an alcoholic. Socially, very acceptable, readilly available, and legal. And that makes it right....

Even smokers. ...I think I'll quit everything and become an alcoholic. Socially, very acceptable, readilly available, and legal. And that makes it right....
:smoke:

:beerchug: Just don't go drunk driving. Otherwise enjoy! :beerchug: :drunk: :beer:

I'm 38 and barely remember vaguely cigarette ads on the tube, although I remember smoking everywhere, schools, etc. When I was in a particular type of institution in 1982 we were allowed to smoke (I was 15).

The SO picks up those cheap "remastered" dvds of old movies and shows, one of them is "Father knows best", the backdrop for the opening/closing credits is a tobacco leaf for goodness sake! I'm surprised the kids aren't smoking Laramie too lol.

IIRC alcohol ads are not allowed to show folks actually drinking the product. Makes me think of a take-off on the song "what I like about you":

What I like about booze.
It's real cheap
It makes you act stupid and wake up with your face in the street

A whole lot cheaper than crack cocaine
Savin' my money while I pickle my brain

(chorus) what I like about booze..

It makes women cute
It makes me look charming, even when I puke on their shoes...

That's all I remember. O well.

Pete

Wow! I must have a better memory than I thought. I could have sworn there were Marlboro commercials up to like maybe 76. Oh well! No matter. I still think the whole attitude toward the tobacco industry is rediculous. Now there is some snotty attitude in business that smoking is some kind of bad image. I recently got a call from a District Manager riding by my store telling me to not smoke around customers. I was outside for Christs sake. Not too many years ago it was commonplace to have board meetings in smoke filled rooms. People smoked on TV talk shows. (Johnny Carson) If you didnt smoke you just dealt with it. Now I am realistic enough to understand that it should only be allowed in a properly ventilated room. Everyone deserves equal consideration. Even smokers....I think I'll quit everything and become an alcoholic. Socially, very acceptable, readilly available, and legal. And that makes it right....

Works for me, no such thing as second hand booze.

Eric, that "silly millimeter longer" brand had to be something different than Benson & Hedges, but I can't remember which one it was. B&H was 100mm and the "silly" one had to be 101mm. Those B&H ads were some of the best, very 60's, and my friends mom, the classiest lady I've ever known even though she was a chronic alcoholic, was smoking B&H way before they even ran ads on TV. I remember their built-in sideboard in the dining room always had a drawer full of those fancy B&H boxes--unopened. Of couse we'd occasionally steal a box and go hide and light up.

As for those who complain that we've cracked down too far on smoking in this country, I suggest a trip to Paris where smoking is allowed EVERYWHERE and everybody in your average workplace, offices, banks, etc. has an ashtray on their desk with cancer stick smoldering away. It tends to appear like a very backward culture. I don't think the rest of Europe is much better. This in a place where they pride themselves on their cuisine. How can they taste any of it when they have a cigarette going while they're eating, or even if they don't, they're breathing in the 2nd hand stuff from other tables? I enjoy a cigar once in a while, maybe a cigarette if it doesn't have a filter on it, but I'll never, never understand the habitual smoker.

Another point relating to smoking and TV's...have you ever smelled TV's or radios or other equipment that was in a smoking environment for a while...they can make the whole room smell like someone has been smoking in it! We have a magnavox set at the shop that is heavily infused with nicotine and it smells like someone has been smoking in the room just from that set.

Also have seen chassis and tubes covered with heavy cigarette tar and nicotine. That has to be one of the most pervasive smells out there, as it can linger for years in equipment even after removed from the smoking environment.

....

I think the silly millimeter longer was L & M

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.

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