L.S./M.F.T. (1948) ...before social legislation & modern sin taxes

Lucky Strike cigarette commercial with stop-motion animation of square-dancing cigarettes.
This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives
Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Sponsor: American Tobacco Company
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Advertising: Television commercials; Substance abuse: Tobacco; Animation: Stop-motion
Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Reviewer: bgrauman - - April 18, 2009
Subject: One of tTHE first filmed cigarette commercials on TV...
The American Tobacco Company was the first major tobacco advertiser to sponsor a "national" TV program {the short-lived "BARNEY BLAKE, POLICE REPORTER", on NBC} in 1948. They were thinking about the future of television advertising, and wanted something unique for one of their first filmed commercials. So they asked Jam Handy, who produced several "commercial" theatrical films sponsored by them over the years [best known of these was 1943's "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco", featuring performances by Frank Sinatra ("YOUR HIT PARADE") and Kay Kyser's orchestra ("THE KOLLEGE OF MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE"), stars of Luckies' radio shows at the time, interspersed with "behind-the-scenes" footage of tobacco auctions and the manufacture of their brand] to create a commercial that would grab the viewers' attention. They came up with a stop-motion animated "cigarette square dance", primarily aimed at rural viewers who were among Luckies' most influential customers...and it was a success, and one of the most talked-about ads in the advertising and tobacco industries. It was virtually a blueprint for the kind of commercials we see to this day....

---