A vintage Benson & Hedge's ad evokes a cheekier (but no less deadly) era of cigarette marketing

Sometimes an ad gets just a little too truthful for its own good.  By the time this 1972 full-pager for Benson & Hedges 100’s ran in Life magazine, smoking was widely understood to be associated with a range of serious diseases. So, sure, let’s equate using our product to jumping out of a plane.  Bought by Philip Morris in 1958, Benson & Hedges is a British brand and still a subsidiary of the American conglomerate Philip Morris International. This ad was part of a larger “favorite cigarette break” campaign that leaned into the fact that Benson & Hedges offered longer cigarettes at the same price point, so people kept accidentally snapping the suckers in two. “Nobody had ever mutilated a cigarette before in American advertising—cigarettes, like automobiles, had always been treated with reverent respect by their manufacturers,” Mad Woman Mary Wells Lawrence wrote in her 2002 memoir “A Big Life (In Advertising).”  “Anything anti-establishment seemed smart in the mid-’60s, so our advertising made Benson & Hedges wildly hip and cool and the cigarette to be seen with.” (Lawrence, the first female CEO listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is still alive at 91. Must not have been a smoker.) But the times? They are a-changin’. Benson & Hedges parent PMI was in the news last week as merger talks between it and Altria Group, another American purveyor of cancer, broke down. Altria itself holds a minority stake in Juul Labs, the embattled e-cigarette maker... Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'

[ Advertising Age | 2019-09-30 09:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #merger talks #minority stake #recent months #memoir

Other Publishing stories related to: ' A vintage Benson & Hedge's ad evokes a cheekier (but no less deadly) era of cigarette marketing '


Why Native Ads Are Bad News for Some Agencies

When Capital One set out to endear itself with entrepreneurs, it enlisted Forbes to create blog posts on its behalf about cybercrime and other scourges of small business. Likewise, UPS entrusted Fast Company to create custom infographics that ran on the business brand’s site. In both cases, it... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zenith media #content creation #due respect #signs point #online survey


France Rejects Plan to Block Online Ads

The Internet service provider Free restored the ads after meetings with French online publishing and advertising groups, which had complained about a loss of revenue. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2013-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


3 Key Developing Book Markets for Publishers to Watch in 2013

Korea, Indonesia and Turkey are well positioned to take advantage of the growing interesting in developing book markets from Western publishers in coming years. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #western publishers #coming years


Korea Named as Market Focus for London Book Fair 2014

The London Book Fair will feature Korea—a top ten, yet underserved market—as the Market Focus country of the 2014 Fair. The program will showcase business opportunities in Korea. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #market focus #top ten


Cuban Publishers Eager to Embrace Ebooks, Open US Market

Ebooks will bring Cuba's isolated publishing industry and authors to a wider audience across the Spanish-speaking world, but also the US, under the radar of the trade embargo. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #wider audience #spanish-speaking world #trade embargo


This Vintage-Looking Vending Machine Dispenses Rare Books For Just $2

Installed at the Monkey’s Paw bookstore in Toronto, the Biblio-Mat offers book lovers a little randomness for their next read. A Toronto bookstore has come up with a creative way to add value to old, discount books that otherwise may clutter its storage: an antique-seeming “book dispenser”... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2012-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


HarperCollins Canada Tests Geo-Targeted Marketing

HarperCollins Canada has started testing a digital and print geo-targeted marketing campaign that will reach consumers in cities and small towns across Canada with messages specific to their location. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harpercollins canada #started testing #reach consumers #small towns


HarperCollins Launches New Imprint for the YA Market

HarperCollins is creating a new digital imprint—HarperTeen Impulse—focusing on young adult short stories and novellas, which sell for .99 cents to $2.99. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harpercollins launches #ya market


Johnston Press appoints BBC exec to head up marketing

Johnston Press, the regional newspaper publisher of The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, has appointed BBC digital marketer Lucy Sinclair to the new role of group audience development and marketing director. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2012-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #marketing director #johnston press #yorkshire post


Nosy Crow to publish book of John Lewis Snowman ad

Children's publisher Nosy Crow has partnered with John Lewis to create a picture book of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #nosy crow #publish book #john lewis #picture book


Graywolf Press in ‘New Era’

Looking to leverage recent critical and financial successes, the literary publisher Graywolf Press is embarking on several new initiatives to further boost its visibility and to reflect that it is, in new marketing director Michael Taeckens’s words, “entering a new era.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #graywolf press


A Small World: The Global E-Book Market Expands

The rise of easy-to-use ebook publishing platforms that distribute globally, the inherent speed of digital publishing, and the low cost and ever-rising demand for ebooks in both the developing world, as well as from developed but remote economies like Australia, offer the potential of vibrant... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital publishing #low cost #developing world #revenue streams


A New Era for Books: The Random House-Penguin Merger Is Just the Start

The biggest publishing companies have an easy plan to save their industry: Get bigger Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2012-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


A Unique E-Book Concept Merges Dead Tree Pulp With The Web

Waldek Węgrzyn’s innovative take on the electronic book turns the book itself into a new digital interface, without eliminating the joys of ink on paper. Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2012-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Marie Claire to debut NFC technology for magazine ad

Marie Claire is to debut a near field communications (NFC)-enabled ad in its pages, after striking a deal with healthcare business Nuffield Health. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2012-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #marie claire


Autumn half-term break boosts book market

Sales of children's books soared last week as schools broke for the first holiday of the new... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #schools broke


Gannett Unit To Produce Ads For The World Co.

Gannett Publishing Services has entered an agreement with The World Co. to produce print and digital ads for the family-owned Kansas media company through the Gannett Imaging and Ad Design Center, the company announced this week. The Des Moines, Iow ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #produce print #digital ads #company announced #des moines


Is Being First Into a New International E-book Market Ever Best?

Evidence suggests that the most successful ebook retailers build on the mistakes of the predecessors and being first-to-market isn't a key to success. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #evidence suggests


UK academic library market defies financial squeeze

Publishers and library suppliers say the UK academic library market is faring better than... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #library suppliers


Why Thinking Same-Language Markets are Uniform is a Mistake

Addressing the differences between the various international book markets is one of the missions we have here at Publishing Perspectives. It's perhaps the key reason we exist. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #key reason