I’m a loser, baby!
You're never alone with a Strand,
The cigarette of the moment.
I hate smoking: the smell, the health problems it creates, the look, the ad, the addiction, the sadness. Luckily enough this is typified by our own brand of Cigarette: Strand.
STRAND CIGARETTES
Their 1960 advertising campaign flopped disastrously. Based on a Frank Sinatra film, the advert showed actor Terence Brook as the mysterious man lighting up a Strand cigarette on a street corner and declaring "you're never alone with a Strand".
It was hugely popular and Brook became a celebrity overnight, with the accompanying Lonely Man theme reaching number 39 on the charts. Yet, much as people loved it, they didn't buy the product and the campaign was soon discontinued.
The theory was that viewers believed that if they smoked Strand they would end up as lonely as the chap on the deserted street corner in the commercial. Smokers are losers.
I know what they mean.
You're never alone with a Strand (1959).
This jingle was written by (the famous) Cliff Adams. This was followed by the theme tune. As soon as the commercial went on the air, enquiries started coming in, people ringing up and asking if there was a record of the music available. So Cliff Adams quickly went to a studio and recorded "The Lonely Man Theme". The released record contained no vocals and nothing was mentioned about cigarettes, just the musical theme. It is known that another version was recorded including some vocals but this was never released.
Famous smokers of the past used cigarettes or pipes as part of their image, such as Jean Paul Sartre's Gauloise-brand cigarettes, Bertrand Russell's pipe, Lord of the Rings' Gandalf, or the news broadcaster Edward R. Murrow's cigarette. Writers in particular seemed to be known for smoking; Cornell Professor Richard Klein's book Cigarettes are Sublime, the role smoking plays in 19th and 20th century letters. British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was well known for smoking a pipe in public as was my hero Winston Churchill for his cigars. Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also smoked a pipe.
There is a message in that somewhere.
SM
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BigAL (31.10.06 10:46) Smoking was cool and has emerged the other side of the bridge as deeply uncool. Well said Sir! |
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Sin atra (31.10.06 16:51) Love that image- so me |
