Thursday, May 2, 2013

Cigarette Factories - Durham, North Carolina




Above are two postcards of cigarette factories in Durham, North Carolina. I got these postcards when I was in Durham MANY years ago. Both companies welcomed visitors, but I didn't actually visit either of them. The description on the back of the Chesterfield card invited you to "take a fascinating tour, conducted by attractive hostesses."

The cigarette industry has changed a lot since then. Neither of these factories are still making cigarettes. The brands still exist, but they are owned and manufactured by other companies.

For your amusement, here are some videos of old Lucky Strike and Chesterfield commercials.






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18 comments:

  1. Its staggering to watch that Chesterfield advert.Did people really believe such ads? No...I think they just made people feel less guilty about their habit...so it was effective advertising.

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  2. The Cowboy Does Protest too Much! Its interesting,because even back then, there must have been nagging doubts they were trying to dispel ..'makes you wonder what lies the advertising industry is currently trying to peddle....?Plus! some Trivia! Did you know that the opening shot of the first episode of "Doctor Kildare" saw him putting coins in a cigarette machine (in the hospital!) & lighting up a fag!

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  3. It's amazing how quickly the culture changes.. Here in France you still see people smoking in the streets and around their family, but even here it is now illegal in public places!

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  4. Those commercials! Oh my -- so funny by today's standards - and so bad too. I remember LSMFT, and I also remember when we joked that it stood for "Loose Straps Mean Floppy Titties." HA

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  5. It's hard to believe that people used to smoke on planes. I remember once being stuck in the middle seat, Frankfurt to LA, in the smoking section. The people on either side of me smoked and drank all the way. Was I glad to get off that plane!! Now you can't even smoke within ten feet of the doors of some office buildings. These ads are almost shocking in terms of what we know today. Enjoyed the post.

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  6. the ads are shocking indeed. Especially the cowboy one. And compared to the marching cigarettes, it's so low tech.
    Great post.
    Nancy

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  7. Your post made me think of the large cigarette standing outside of Richmond, VA, seemingly puffing up pride about smoking. I often wonder if in a few years that large highway monument will still be around.

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  8. The old cigarette factory in Durham has been preserved as part of a new urban development project that includes a new performing arts center. There is a big pedestrian walk around the whole complex now, and I saw the Garrison Keillor radio show there a few years back.

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  9. Given what we now know about them, it's actually difficult to understand why the sale of cigarettes is not banned outright. There's a proposal to do that from one of our minor political parties here in New Zealand. Not a bad thing, in my opinion. The advertising industry, as much as the tobacco growing and cigarette manufacturing industry, has much to answer for.

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  10. Those commercials are chilling. Fine post.

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  11. If the UK Government banned all smoking there would be uproar! UKIP the latest political party is even suggesting doing away with the ban on no smoking in public and work places. The Exchequer would miss out on millions in tax on cigarettes.
    Perhaps the cowboys doctor should have revisited the smokers after 16 years.

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  12. Oh yes we saw all that in Durham NC too. As Bob said, the tax revenue is what keeps governments allowing free smoking areas. However today the states and governments here simply add more and more tax to cigarettes and the ones who smoke keep on paying it. There was a massive national lawsuit against the tobacco companies here where millions of $$ revenue was awarded to the states, all to be used for public health. I always thought it was a replacement for lost revenue on cigarettes.

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  13. Yep, the more they read and saw the more they bought and smoked! It was a wild and money making time for the cigarette companies!

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  14. No mention of lungs in that commercial.... I think we still believe a lot of false advertising - we are not so different today.

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  15. I think smokers really believed it was not harmful to smoke, back in the day.

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  16. I don't think that Australia produces cigarettes any more. It was about 2005/2006 when the government offered all the tobacco growers in this area a package to exit the industry and the processing plant closed down.

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  17. That Lucky Strike commercial is interesting because it was probably trying to appeal to those who had become addicted to them during the war. That "L.S./M.F.T" has a definite morse code sound to it. They were handed out to the troops for free with rations. Lucky Strike went to war and an entire generation became lab rats for the product.

    Wonderful post cards.

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