I have never courted controversy in my Blogs to date –
unless you class my dig at some of the bureaucracy within the music industry as
controversial!
So now maybe this one will, no it’s not about sex, drugs or
rock ‘n roll – no this is about the Tobacco industry – and how these brands
continue to evolve and develop in the 21st Century.
So I guess at this stage I must post a health warning so
that any filters (no pun intended!) across the Blog-sphere can be clear that I
have issued a warning - “Smoking Kills” etc... but hell – we (us
smokers!) all know that anyway – so you can make the warnings as large as
possible – but we still already knew all that stuff.
Hold on.. but so does crossing the road, driving a car (and
I’ve lost more friends in car accidents than any pack of Luckys ever have),
drinking alcohol, – the list is endless.
So what is this blog all about this time? Well now that your only allowed to smoke alone
in the confides of your bathroom with the extractor fan on full, sucking every
last drop of air out of the place, but only on the last Tuesday of each month
that begins with the letter “A”! So how the hell do British American Tobacco,
Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds among others keep their individual brands going
and develop and create new concepts in the cigarette world?
They can no longer sponsor events (well with their brand
names at least) advertise their brands within pubs and clubs, and now some of
the private members clubs can no longer have new marketing initiatives as members
can no longer smoke on the premises, never mind see any advertising – this is
where some of the marketing, trials and events where tobacco manufacturers
would introduce new brands, designs and flavours (hey – if you have never
smoked then you wouldn’t understand that – yes indeed cigarettes do have
distinct flavours)
So being a swinger between Camel and Lucky Strike I have
noticed over the past year a few changes that unless you look really hard would
go un-noticed to the uninitiated.
Camel launched a new natural flavour cigarette – different
pack, subtle design but very well thought through with a subtle camel that had
been cut out of the pack and highlighted from the silver design from behind. It
has a very rustic organic look to the pack and I must admit a very subtle
taste.
Next up has been the pack designs from Benson & Hedges
and Lucky Strike – I’m not a big B&H fan (that was my first cigarette back
when I was not even a teenager and a 10 pack used to cost me £0.68 – and still
have enough dinner money left over for a Mars bar!) each company has looked at
this area and come up with some nifty initiatives on how the cigarette user
looks while “smirting” for example and with the great designs the pack is
becoming more of a statement than the cigarettes themselves. Lucky’s pack that
splits in half like a book – I had these last year from the US when there was a
limited edition series that documented Lucky Strike cigarettes throughout the years
and key milestones that happened back then.
So what am I saying – well if you are over 18 and in full
control of your faculties – then why the hell can you not sign up to a website
for example where you can have all the information that you want from your
latest brands – have an online loyalty campaign (I never did receive my Marlbro
jacket and Zippo from my silver foils) and read about some of the new designs,
flavours – So come on BAT, Philip
Morris, R.J Reynolds – give us a call and let’s see what we can do for the millions
of other smokers around the world that actually do take responsibility for our
own actions!
Of course I’m sure that by signing up the user is accepting
full accountability and liability for their actions that is smoking and will
not pass on their sign on name to anyone under the age of 18 – and please do
not smoke the laptop – it’s not very PC! 