Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies".
Name
Lucky Strike was introduced as a brand of plug tobacco (chewing tobacco bound together with molasses) by an American firm R. A. Patterson in 1871 and evolved into a cigarette by the early 1900s. The brand style name was inspired by the gold rushes of the era, and was intended to connote a top-quality blend.
An urban legend claims that the name is a reference to cannabis in some cigarette packs.
History
The brand was first introduced by R. A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as cut plug chewing tobacco and later as a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company.
In 1917, the brand debuted the slogan "It's Toasted" to promote the manufacturing method of toasting — rather than sun drying — the tobacco. In an attempt to counter this popular campaign, competitor Camel took a different approach, claiming that Camel was a "fresh cigarette never parched or toasted".
Lucky Strike's association with radio 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. Aviatrix Amelia Earhart became the face of Lucky Strike cigarettes in 1928, claiming to have smoked Lucky Strikes on her flight from Canada to England. The copy of an advertisement at that time said, "Lucky Strikes were the cigarettes carried on the 'Friendship' when she crossed the Atlantic. They were smoked continuously from Trepassey to Wales. I think nothing else helped so much to lessen the strain for all of us."
In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as an avenue to thinness for women. One typical advertisement said, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion in 1930.
In the early 1930s, Al Jolson was also paid to endorse the brand; he called Lucky Strike "The cigarette of the acting profession ... the good old flavor of Luckies is as sweet and soothing as the best 'Mammy' song ever written." In 1935, the American Tobacco Company 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 capitalized on the tobacco auction theme and each ended with the signature phrase "Sold, American".
In 1934, Edward Bernays was asked to deal with women's apparent reluctance to buy Lucky Strikes because their green and red package clashed with standard female fashions. When Bernays suggested changing the package to a neutral color, George Washington Hill, head of the American Tobacco Company, refused, citing the money that he had already spent millions advertising the package. Bernays then endeavored to make green a fashionable color. The centerpiece of his efforts was the Green Ball, a social event at the Waldorf Astoria, hosted by Narcissa Cox Vanderlip. The pretext for the ball and its unnamed underwriter was that all proceeds would go to charity. High society women would attend wearing green dresses. Manufacturers and clothing and accessories retailers were advised of the excitement growing around the color green. Intellectuals were enlisted to give highbrow talks on the theme of green.
The company's advertising campaign generally featured a theme that stressed the quality of the tobacco, claiming that the higher quality tobacco resulted in a cigarette with better flavor. This campaign included a series of advertisements using Hollywood actors as endorsers of Lucky Strike. For example, Douglas Fairbanks referenced its toasted tobacco as a distinguishing feature.
In 1937–1938, American Tobacco paid $130,000 (US$3.2 million in 2019) to 16 Hollywood actors and actresses for their endorsement of Lucky Strike. The highest paid among the celebrities were Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor, and Spencer Tracy, who were each paid $10,000 (roughly US$178,000 in 2019).
"Luckies" were the cigarette of choice for famous smoker Bette Davis. Starting in the fall of 1944, Lucky Strike began sponsoring comedian Jack Benny's radio and television show, The Jack Benny Program, which was also introduced as The Lucky Strike Program.
The Lucky Strike 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 coloring was needed for World War II, though, in reality, American Tobacco used chromium for the green ink and copper for the gold-colored trim. Supply of each was limited and the substitute materials made the packaging look drab, but attributing the package update to the war effort helped Lucky Strike appear more patriotic. 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. Loewy changed the background from green to white, because market research suggested it had more appeal to female smokers while also cutting printing costs by eliminating the 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.
The message "L.S./M.F.T." ("Lucky Strike means fine tobacco") was introduced on the package in 1944.
Lucky Strike was one of the brands included in the C-rations provided to American troops during World War II. Each C-ration of the time included nine cigarettes of varying brands, because military leaders believed tobacco was essential to the morale of soldiers. 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 through the Korean and Vietnam Wars, ending in 1976 with the growing evidence that linked smoking to various health problems.
Post World War II
In 1978 and 1994, export and U.S. rights were purchased by Brown & Williamson. In the 1960s, filtered styles were launched in addition to a mentholated version called "Lucky Strike Green", with "green" referring to menthol and not to the package color. In late 2006, the "Full Flavored" and "Light" filtered varieties were discontinued in North America. However, Lucky Strike continued to have marketing and distribution support in territories controlled by British American Tobacco (BAT) as a global brand. Additionally, R. J. Reynolds continues to market the original, non-filtered Lucky Strikes in the United States. Lucky Strike currently has a small base of smokers.
In 2007, a new packaging of Lucky Strikes was released with a two-way opening that splits seven cigarettes from the rest. In that same year, the company used the world's smallest man at the time, He Pingping, in their advertising campaigns.
In 2009, Lucky Strike Silver (the variety marketed as "lighter") changed its UK pack from the quintessential red design to blue, albeit with a red outer covering around the packet.
In 2012 consumption of Lucky Strikes stood at 33 billion packets, up from 23 billion in 2007. The television series Mad Men, which featured Lucky Strike as a major client of the advertising firm Sterling Cooper and the cigarette of choice of Don Draper, was credited with inspiring the massive jump in sales.
In December 2020, Lucky Strike filtered cigarettes, both full-flavored and lights, plus full-flavored and light menthol versions, were reintroduced to the U.S. market.
Sport sponsorship
From 1972 until the team's departure in 1975, Lucky Strike sponsored the Scuderia Scribante team, which was also known as "Neville Lederle" and "Lucky Strike Racing". The cars, driven by Neville Lederle and Dave Charlton, were some of the first to be sponsored by a major tobacco company after the Lotus Team was sponsored by Gold Leaf in 1968, and Marlboro started sponsoring British Racing Motors in 1972 and later McLaren in 1974. The team mainly participated in the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami, but during the 1972 Formula One season, the team also participated in the French Grand Prix in Circuit de Charade, the British Grand Prix in Brands Hatch and the German Grand Prix at the old Nürburgring. After the retirement of the team, it took over 20 years before Lucky Strike participated in Formula 1 again with the British American Racing team.
As a result of British American Tobacco (BAT) buying out American Tobacco Company in 1976, Lucky Strike came under control of BAT. The company acquired Formula 1's Tyrrell Racing team in 1997 and rebranded it as British American Racing the following year, sponsoring the team with its Lucky Strike and stablemate 555 brands. In the team's début season, they originally wanted to brand Jacques Villeneuve's car in the red and white Lucky Strike livery, while branding Ricardo Zonta's car with the blue colors of 555. However, the FIA blocked the move, and the team were forced to run two similar liveries. They opted to have the Lucky Strike livery on the left hand side of the car and the 555 livery on the right hand side, with a zip going up in the middle of the nose. From 2000 on, the team solely used Lucky Strike branding. The team was bought outright by partners Honda by 2006, though Lucky Strike continued to sponsor the team until the end of that year. For races where tobacco branding was not allowed, the Lucky Strike logo was blocked out (from 1999 to 2004), replaced by "Run Free" on other parts of the car (in 1999), changed to "Look Alike" (from 2000 to 2003), to a barcode with Formula One car (in 2002–2005), to "Look Left", "Look Right", and "Don't Walk" (in 2004–2006), and "Racing Revolution" (in 2005–2006) At the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, they used the slogans "Racing Forever" and "Last Blast" on the colors as a tribute to main sponsor British American Tobacco in honor of the last race.
Lucky Strike was also the prime sponsor of the Suzuki MotoGP team from the 1990 season until the 1997 season. American motorcycle racer Kevin Schwantz became the 1993 world champion riding the Lucky Strike-sponsored Suzuki RGV500, with riders including Doug Chandler, Alex Barros and Daryl Beattie taking various podiums and wins on the Lucky Strike Suzuki as well.
In popular culture
In art
American Colonial-Cubist artist Stuart Davis represented the brand in his 1921 painting, Lucky Strike
In music
The song "Give it Back to the Indians" composed by Rodgers and Hart from the 1939 musical Too Many Girls, contains a reference to Lucky Strikes
The song "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed", written by Merle Travis, Eddie Kirk, and Cliffie Stone in 1947, is named for a Lucky Strike advertising slogan
The song “Hero In Your Own Hometown” by Mary Chapin Carpenter references “Luckies”
The song "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" performed by ZZ Top from their 1979 album Degüello, contains a reference to Lucky Strikes
The cover art for the 1964 album Lucky Strikes by the saxophonist Lucky Thompson was modelled after the cigarette brand's logo and design.
The song "Keeping the Faith", performed by Billy Joel from his 1983 album An Innocent Man, contains a reference to Lucky Strikes
The song "Chain Smokin'" performed by Morgan Wallen contains a reference to Lucky Strikes
The song “These are My People” performed by Rodney Atkins references smoking Lucky Strikes
Minneapolis indie rock band Howler based the artwork of their debut album America Give Up on a pack of Lucky Strikes
A song named after the cigarettes appears on the Maroon 5 album, Overexposed
A song named after the cigarettes appears on the Troye Sivan album, Bloom
The song "Then Came the Night" performed by Tommy Shane Steiner, a cover of the same song by Trace Adkins, mentions a Lucky Strike cigarette
The song "Back in this Cigarette" by Jason Aldean references an ashtray full of Lucky Strikes
Paul Silhan recorded a parody of Lou Christie's hit song "Lightnin' Strikes" - titled "Lightin' Up Lucky Strikes Again" - for his 1997 album Spinball Wizard. It was frequently played around that time on The Rush Limbaugh Show
The song "Everything Must Go" performed by Steely Dan from their eponymous 2003 album contains a reference to Lucky Strikes
The song "Two pump Texaco" by Diamond Rio in their 1998 album Unbelievable contains a reference to Lucky Strikes
The song "Big Day" by Lodger in their 2005 album Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low contains a reference to Lucky Strikes
In film
In the 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon, Book Revue, Daffy Duck used the Lucky Strike slogan, "So round, so firm, so fully packed, so light and easy on the draw" in its entirety
In Breathless, a young girl (played by Liliane Dreyfus) standing in front of a wall decoration made of empty boxes of Gauloises lights a cigarette and claims that she switched to Luckies
In the Eddie Murphy film Beverly Hills Cop (1984), his character Axel Foley is introduced as a jive-talking hustler involved in the clandestine sale of an illegally procured semi truck full of Lucky Strike cigarettes
In the 1990 film Misery, famed novelist Paul Sheldon, played by James Caan, has a habit of smoking a single Lucky Strike cigarette and drinking a glass of Dom Pérignon every time he's about to finish the manuscript for a new novel
In the opening song to the 2001 film Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, a pack of original red Lucky Strikes appears on a table
In the 1999 film The Thirteenth Floor, a Lucky Strikes billboard can be seen on a highway
In the 1999 film The Ninth Gate, Johnny Depp's character Dean Corso smokes Lucky Strikes cigarettes
In the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption, Lucky Strike cigarettes are frequently exchanged between prisoners
In the 1990 movie Goodfellas, Henry and Tommy are seen selling cartons of cigarettes on the street and boxes with Lucky Strike logos can be seen inside of a truck
In the 1987 movie The Untouchables, Eliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner) smokes Lucky Strike cigarettes
In the 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously, correspondent Guy Hamilton (played by Mel Gibson) smokes Lucky Strike cigarettes, which the Indonesian locals seem to regard as being superior to their domestic brands