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 '


Outsourcing Marketing Functions For In-House Results

Despite a stabilizing economy, many publishers still function with a “lean” staff. In order to accommodate growing digital demands and a wider advertising portfolio with a thinner team, some companies are finding solutions outside their office walls. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wimpy Kid wins BMS marketing gong

The marketing campaign for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney has won the latest... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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GfK MRI Launches Digital Ad Measuring Service

To address the growing need for accountability in digital marketing, GfK MRI has launched a syndicated service called Starch Digital. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marmion Launches Marketing Firm

Bridget Marmion, who has had long tenures in sales and marketing at FSG, Random House and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has started her own firm, Your Expert Nation. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The ToC Perspective: A Call for a Unified E-book Market

Imagine buying a car that locks you into one brand of fuel. That new BMW only runs on BMW gas. There are plenty of BMW gas stations around, so convenience isn't an issue. But if a different brand of gas station offers a discount, a membership program, or some other marketing campaign, you can't... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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W H Smith ‘won market share’ at Christmas

W H Smith says it increased its market share over the Christmas period, with retail analysts... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Recession fails to bite children's market

Children's publishing emerged relatively unscathed from a recessionary 2011, with 13 of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US Online Ad Spending to Top Print by $5.7 Billion in 2012

U.S. online ad spending is set to eclipse that of print this year by 15.5 percent, according to eMarketer, suggesting that the long-awaited print-to-digital inflection point may now be here for both content creators and marketers. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Moving Toward A Hybrid Market

Even as more consumers buy dedicated digital reading devices and tablets, a hybrid market for books is developing in which readers will buy both print and digital books. That was one of the main conclusions from Verso Digital’s “2011 Survey of Book-Buying Behavior,” presented by the company’s... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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V&A teams with Vintage for Designer Classics

Vintage Classics is working in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum to re-issue... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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31 Percent of Delivered Digital Ads Not Seen By Consumers

In a new study undertaken by comScore to support the release of a new digital ad measurement solution, the company found that 31 percent of ads are delivered, but not seen by consumers. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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YA market ripe for digital, say publishers

Children's publishers remain confident that the printed book will be the dominant format for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital marketeers set for busy Christmas Day

Publishers are planning to up their marketing campaigns over the crucial festive period,... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury Institute enters reader events market

Bloomsbury has set up a literary events arm called Bloomsbury Institute, hosting literary salons... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Condé Nast Partners with AdMeld in Private Digital Ad Exchange

In a major magazine publisher first, Condé Nast launched a private advertising exchange for select digital clientele. Partnering with service provider AdMeld, inventory from Condé’s entire digital portfolio was available at the time of the exchange’s launch. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oswald withdraws from T S Eliot prize over hedge fund sponsor

Poet Alice Oswald has withdrawn her book Memorial (Faber) from the T S Eliot prize because of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Academic sector outperforming market

The surge of students attending higher education institutions ahead of funding changes in 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic targets younger market

Scholastic UK is building its younger fiction in order to replicate its strength in the Young... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ad Network Offers Rich Media To Niche Publishers

Martini Media, which serves a network of 1,000 publisher sites in lifestyle and business, is launching a series of multimedia advertising programs including bringing rich media to niche sites. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-11-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Adweek' Launches Self-Serve Ad Platform

Adweek has partnered with Toronto-based technology company Shiny Ads to create the new Adweek Self-Serve Ad platform. The service now lets anyone upload a 300 x 250 banner ad and secure a set number of impressions for as little as $500. This will allow marketers with any size budget to speak... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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