"Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!" is a slogan that appeared in magazine, newspaper, and television advertisements for Tareyton cigarettes from 1963 until 1981. It was the American Tobacco Company's most visible advertising campaign in the 1960s and 1970s.[ according to whom? ]
The slogan was created by James Jordan of the BBDO advertising agency. [1] The first print advertisement appeared in Life magazine on October 11, 1963. [2] The advertisements would appear solely in print between 1963 and 1966. In 1966, the first television advertisements with the slogan aired.[ citation needed ]
The target of the campaign was to create a sense of loyalty amongst Tareyton smokers. The models were made to look as though they each had a black eye, presumably earned in battles with smokers of other cigarettes. [3]
The slogan received grammar criticism from some quarters, which claimed correct usage should be "we" as the subject pronoun rather than "us", normally an object pronoun. [4]
Each commercial began with the protagonist doing something defiant; in one commercial, an old woman rocked sternly in her chair on her porch while the rest of her development was being razed to make room for a condominium). The protagonist, usually showing only their side profile to the camera, would say "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!". Then viewers would see the whole face, with the black eye implying willingness to fight for what they believed in, whether it was a tough decision or their choice to smoke Tareyton cigarettes. In the example, the old woman's house remained where it was, although the condominium was built alarmingly close to her property. Her son came to visit her, and his own black eye implied he was a Tareyton smoker as well. [5] [ unreliable source? ]
The advertising campaign fuelled sales robust enough to put Tareyton sales in the Top 10 American cigarette brands in the mid to late 1960s. [6] The brand declined to thirteenth place when the slogan waned in 1979. [7] [ unreliable source? ]
In 1971, Tareyton's television jingles ended when radio and television advertisements for tobacco products were banned from American broadcasting stations. The slogan continued to be used in magazines and newspapers. In 1975, the slogan was used to advertise for the Tareyton "100". [8] [ unreliable source? ]
In 1976, the American Tobacco Company introduced Tareyton Light cigarettes. In the new advertisements, men and women appeared with "white eyes", and the slogan was adjusted to "Us Tareyton smokers would rather light than fight!" The two slogans would be used to sell the two separate variations until 1981, when market value declined.[ citation needed ]
This slogan was the final one used for the Tareyton brand. Declining sales led to an end of advertising the brand.[ citation needed ]
 | This article or section possibly contains synthesis of material which does not verifiably mention or relate to the main topic.(August 2017) |
The then-fresh slogan was adopted by supporters of Barry Goldwater during the 1964 campaign for the presidency. Goldwater appeared to have the nomination in hand as the primary season closed, but supporters of the moderate Republican William Scranton tried to mount a "Draft Scranton" reply. "Goldwater Girls" (mostly adult women) were seen at Scranton events wearing bandages and sporting signs saying "We'd rather fight than switch!". [9]
A 1964 single released on the Camp Records label parodied the slogan with the song "I'd Rather Fight Than Swish," using the slang term swish, meaning to behave effeminately. [10]
The advertising campaign is parodied in The Last of the Secret Agents? when Marty Allen tires of Zoltan Schubach's (Theo Marcuse) threat on closed-circuit television and changes the channel to one featuring a cowboy representing the Marlboro Man turning to the camera with a black right eye and saying "I'd rather switch than fight."
The June 1964 Mad magazine parodied the slogan by twisting it into "Us Cigarette-Makers will fight rather than quit!" regarding reports linking smoking to cancer and the subsequent PR campaign to make their own reports, with editor Al Feldstein as an executive with a black eye. Feldstein later said the spoof was his personal favorite. [11]
Thomas "TNT" Todd, a civil rights activist, parodied the slogan to make a point regarding the Vietnam War in a 1967 speech. Todd was quoted as saying, "...Yet our best trained, best educated, best equipped, best prepared troops refuse to fight! Matter of fact, it's safe to say that they would rather switch than fight!" The audio clip of his speech was later used as the prelude to the 1989 Public Enemy single "Fight the Power." [12] [ unreliable source? ]
Joe Camel was an advertising mascot used by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) for their cigarette brand Camel. The character was created in 1974 for a French advertising campaign, and was redesigned for the American market in 1988. He appeared in magazine advertisements, clothing, and billboards among other print media and merchandise.
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."
Virginia Slims is an American brand of cigarettes owned by Altria. It is manufactured by Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International.
Capri is an American brand of cigarettes. It is currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Newport is an American brand of menthol cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The brand was originally named for the seaport of Newport, Rhode Island.
Silk Cut is a British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Gallaher Group, a division of Japan Tobacco. The packaging is characterised by a distinctive stark white packet with the brand name in a purple, blue, red, silver, white or green square.
L&M is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Altria and Philip Morris International. The name comes from the tobacco company founded in 1873 called Liggett & Myers, predecessor of today's Liggett Group, in which L&M was originally produced.
Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Products are marketed through social media, stealth marketing, mass media, and sponsorship. Expenditures on nicotine marketing are in the tens of billions a year; in the US alone, spending was over US$1 million per hour in 2016; in 2003, per-capita marketing spending was $290 per adult smoker, or $45 per inhabitant. Nicotine marketing is increasingly regulated; some forms of nicotine advertising are banned in many countries. The World Health Organization recommends a complete tobacco advertising ban.
Salem is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by ITG Brands, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco, inside the U.S. and by Japan Tobacco outside the United States.
Tareyton is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
"Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" is an advertising slogan that appeared in newspaper, magazine, radio, and television advertisements for Winston cigarettes, manufactured by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolds used the slogan from Winston's introduction in 1954 until 1972. It is one of the best-known American tobacco advertising campaigns. In 1999, Advertising Age included the "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" jingle in its list of the 10 best radio and television jingles in the United States during the 20th century.
The loi Évin is the French alcohol and tobacco policy law passed in 1991. It takes its name from Claude Évin, then Minister of Health, who proposed it to Parliament.
Strand was a British brand of cigarettes which was owned and manufactured by W.D. & H.O. Wills.
Lark is an American brand of cigarettes, owned by Altria Group, and manufactured by Philip Morris USA in the United States and Philip Morris International for the rest of the world.
Cigarette smoking for weight loss is a weight control method whereby one consumes tobacco, often in the form of cigarettes, to decrease one's appetite. The practice dates to early knowledge of nicotine as an appetite suppressant.
There are approximately 57 million smokers in Indonesia, among a population of 273 million people. Around 63% of men and 5% of women report smoking, equating to 34% of the population. The majority, 88% of Indonesian smokers, use clove-flavoured kreteks. Kretek manufacturers directly employ over 180,000 people in Indonesia and an additional 10 million indirectly. Indonesia is the fifth largest tobacco market in the world, and in 2008 over 165 billion cigarettes were sold in the country.
Philip Morris is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned by Philip Morris International. Cigarettes are manufactured by the firm worldwide except in the US, where Philip Morris USA produces tobacco products.
As nicotine is highly addictive, marketing nicotine-containing products is regulated in most jurisdictions. Regulations include bans and regulation of certain types of advertising, and requirements for counter-advertising of facts generally not included in ads. Regulation is circumvented using less-regulated media, such as Facebook, less-regulated nicotine delivery products, such as e-cigarettes, and less-regulated ad types, such as industry ads which claim to discourage nicotine addiction but seem, according to independent studies, to promote teen nicotine use.
The history of nicotine marketing stretches back centuries. Nicotine marketing has continually developed new techniques in response to historical circumstances, societal and technological change, and regulation. Counter marketing has also changed, in both message and commonness, over the decades, often in response to pro-nicotine marketing.
Electronic cigarettes are marketed to smoking and non-smoking men, women, and children as being safer than cigarettes. In the 2010s, large tobacco businesses accelerated their marketing spending on vape products, similar to the strategies traditional cigarette companies used in the 1950s and 1960s.
