American Tobacco Co. handles about one-third of the cigaret and smoking tobacco, about one-fourth of the plug tobacco sold in the U. S. Among its many familiar brands are Sweet Caporal, Pall Mall, Lucky Strike cigarets, Bull Durham and Half and Half smoking tobaccos. Sales last year totaled some $200,000,000. The advertising appropriation on Lucky Strikes alone was estimated at $12,300,000. As the largest fragment of Thomas Fortune Ryan's Tobacco Trust, which the government dissolved in 1911, American Tobacco Co. occupies in its field somewhat the position held by Standard Oil of New Jersey in petroleum, except that the tobacco company controls a much larger percentage of its industry. . . .
Last week the Federal Trade Commission announced a victory. A certain tobacco company, which the Commission was careful not to name, had agreed to "cease and desist forever" from allegedly unfair methods of competition. The Commission objected particularly to the testimonials in this company's advertising and to its advertising advocacy of cigarets as an aid to slenderness. "Advertising matter [of this company]," reported the Commission, ". . . contained a testimonial or indorsement purporting to be that of certain actresses in a musical show who were credited with the statement to the effect that through the use of respondents' cigarets, 'That's how we stay slender, when in truth and in fact the said actresses were not cigaret smokers and did not stay slender through the use of the respondents' products." The respondent also "caused various forms of advertising matter to contain such statements as 'Every woman who fears overweight finds keen interest in this new and common sense way to keep a slender, fashionable figure,' 'Women retain slender figure,' and . . . 'Overweight is banished,' when in truth and in fact . . . reduction of flesh . . . will not necessarily result from smoking of respondents' brand of cigarets." The respondent agreed to stop misleading statements and to announce as such all paid-for testimonials.
One of the most repeated of all advertising slogans has been the Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet slogan for American Tobacco Co.'s Lucky Strike cigarets. Begun in the fall of 1928, and continuing for a little less than a year, Reach for a Lucky was thoroughly pounded into the U. S. consciousness. From the standpoint of being read and remembered, the slogan was a sensational success and during the period of its appearance Lucky sales steadily rose.