Collection: Life

Whereas the push for reassuring brand names came about in the 1970s with the introduction of Merit, Vantage, and other brands in response to the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health, the predecessor to all of these brands was Life, introduced by Brown & Williamson in 1948. With slogans like “You get more out of Life!” or “Enjoy a longer Life!” the intended message regarding health is blatantly obvious. Still, Brown & Williamson continued marketing Life cigarettes up until 1974, when they were finally discontinued.

As is the case with the majority of products on the market, brands of cigarettes were named in order to send particular messages to consumers. The brand name “Kool,” for example, not only reminds consumers of the throat-cooling sensation of menthols, but it also speaks to the word’s meaning in slang; to be “cool” is to be hip and trendy. The choice of certain brand names also extends to tobacco companies’ efforts to ease the concerns of worried smokers. Indeed, when the tobacco companies could no longer rely on explicit health claims in their advertisements due to FTC regulation, they developed countless methods to subliminally convey the same message, including brand name.

1. O’Connor J.J. “Vantage’s New Candid Push Causes Contention.” 6 Jan 1972. R.J. Reynolds. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kcv66a00.

2. Hill, Knowlton. “Public Relations Program Proposed for V-2.” 15 May 1970. R.J. Reynolds. http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/cgl18c00.