This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (December 2010)

Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarette owned by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and British American Tobacco groups. Often referred to as "Luckies", Lucky Strike was the top selling cigarette in the United States during the 1930s.^[1]

History[link]

The brand was first introduced by R.A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as cut-plug chewing tobacco and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company (ATC), and Lucky Strike would later prove to be its answer to R. J. Reynolds' Camel.

In 1917, the brand started using the slogan "It's Toasted" to inform consumers about the manufacturing method in which the tobacco is toasted rather than sun-dried, a process touted as making the cigarette's taste more desirable.

Advertising photo for Lucky Strike by Nickolas Muray, 1936.

In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as a route to thinness for women. One typical ad said, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Sales of Lucky Strikes increased by more than 300% during the first year of the advertising campaign. Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion sold in 1930, making Lucky Strike the leading brand nationwide.^[2]

Lucky Strike's association with radio music programs began during the 1920s on NBC. By 1928, the bandleader and vaudeville producer B. A. Rolfe was performing on radio and recording as "B.A. Rolfe and his Lucky Strike Orchestra" for Edison Records. In 1935, ATC began to sponsor Your Hit Parade, featuring North Carolina tobacco auctioneer Lee Aubrey "Speed" Riggs (later, another tobacco auctioneer from Lexington, Kentucky, F.E. Boone, was added). The weekly radio show's countdown catapulted the brand's success, remaining popular for 25 years. The shows capitalized on the tobacco auction theme and each ended with the signature phrase "Sold, American." The company's advertising campaigns generally featured a theme that stressed the quality of the tobacco purchased at auction for use in making Lucky Strike cigarettes and claimed that the higher quality tobacco resulted in a cigarette with better flavor. American engaged in a series of advertisements using Hollywood actors as endorsers of Lucky Strike, including testimonials from Douglas Fairbanks concerning the cigarette's flavor.^[3]

Lucky Strike was also a sponsor of comedian Jack Benny's radio and TV show, The Jack Benny Show, which was also introduced as The Lucky Strike Program.

The brand's signature dark green pack was changed to white in 1942. In a famous advertising campaign that used the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war", the company claimed the change was made because the copper used in the green color was needed for World War II.^[4] American Tobacco actually used chromium to produce the green ink, and copper to produce the gold-colored trim. A limited supply of each was available, and substitute materials made the package look drab. However, the truth of the matter was that the white package was introduced to modernize the label and to increase the appeal of the package among female smokers; market studies showed that the green package was not found attractive to women, who had become an important consumer of tobacco products. The war effort became a convenient way to make the product more marketable while appearing patriotic at the same time.^[5] Famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy was challenged by company president George Washington Hill to improve the existing green and red package, with a $50,000 bet at stake. Loewy changed the background from green to white, making it more attractive to women as well as cutting printing costs by eliminating the need for green dye. He also placed the Lucky Strike target logo on both sides of the package, a move that increased both visibility and sales. Hill paid off the bet. ^[6]

British Lucky Strike packet with cigarette alongside and government health warning.

The message "L.S.M.F.T." ("Lucky Strike means fine tobacco") was introduced on the package in 1945.

Jenson Button driving for BAR at Indianapolis in the 2005 US Grand Prix donning a Lucky Strike livery

As a result of British American Tobacco plc buying out American Tobacco Company in 1976, Lucky Strike came under control of BAT. The company acquired Formula 1s Tyrrell Racing team in 1997 and rebranded it as British American Racing the following year, sponsoring the team with its Lucky Strike and stablemate 555 brands. The team was bought outright by partners Honda by 2006, though Lucky Strike continued to sponsor the team until the end of that year. Tobacco advertising in motorsports

In 1978 and 1994, export rights and U.S. rights were purchased by Brown & Williamson. In the 1960s, filtered styles were launched in addition to a mentholated version called "Lucky Strike Green". This time "Green" was referring to menthol and not to the overall package color. In late 2006, both the Full Flavored and Light filtered varieties of Lucky Strike cigarettes were discontinued in North America. However, Lucky Strike will continue to have marketing and distribution support in territories controlled by British American Tobacco as a global drive brand. In addition, R. J. Reynolds continues to market the original, non-filter Lucky Strikes in the United States. Lucky Strikes currently have a small base of smokers.^[7][8]

In 2007, a new packaging of Lucky Strikes was released, with a two-way opening which split seven cigarettes from the rest. In the same year, the company used the world's smallest man, He Pingping, in their ad campaigns.

In 2009, Lucky Strike Silver (the brand marketed as lighter) changed their UK packets from the quintessential red design to blue, albeit with a red teaser outer covering the packet.

Cultural references[link]

A box of candy cigarettes displaying a red circle, imitating the traditional Lucky Strike box art

The cigarette brand is referenced in many modern forms of media. In the MSX2 version of the video game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, a fictionalized version of the brand called Lucky Striker is said to be the protagonist's favorite. In the Tom Waits song "Kentucky Avenue", the first-person speaker refers to his "half pack of Lucky Strikes". In the ZZ Top song "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide", the second verse has the lines "They sportin' short dresses, wearin' spike-heeled shoes, They smokin' Lucky Strikes, wearing nylon too." Lucky Strikes can also be seen on a piano in Ralph Bakshi's 1981 animated film American Pop.

In the AMC show Mad Men, Lucky Strike is a major client of the Madison Avenue advertising agency Sterling Cooper (and later its successor agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce), from the first season of the show until midway through the fourth season. The plot line of the show's pilot deals with the struggles of the firm's creative director Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) to come up with a new advertising campaign for the cigarettes, because new regulations mean that the brand can no longer claim to be healthier than any other cigarette, which has been the cornerstone of their advertising strategy. In the fourth season of the show, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce loses the Lucky Strike account to rival firm BBDO, which was in fact the real life advertising agency that Lucky Strike used.

Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms handed out Lucky Strike cigarettes, which were his personal brand of choice, in his Senate office to meeting attendants until it became "utterly unfashionable."^[9]

Billy Joel's 1983 song "Keeping the Faith" from the album An Innocent Man mentions the brand in the lyric "I took a fresh pack of Luckies and a mint called Sen-Sen. My old man's Trojans and his Old Spice after shave."^[10]

In the 1991 movie JFK the character David Ferrie asks for a pack of "Luckies".

See also[link]

• Tobacco smoking

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lucky Strike (cigarette)

• "BrandLucky Strike" at CigarettesPedia.com
• Gallery of classic graphic design featuring Lucky Strike cigarettes
• "Lucky Strikes?" by Barbara Mikelson at snopes.com (June 12, 2006)

v t e British American Tobacco Subsidiaries Current Bentoel Group (60%) British American Tobacco Ghana House of Prince Pakistan Tobacco Company P.J. Carroll & Company Reynolds American (42%) Souza Cruz S/A Tekel WD & HO Wills Holdings Former Allied Dunbar2 Batus Inc.1 British American Racing2 Brown & Williamson1 The Crescent2 Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft2 Eagle Star Insurance2 Farmers Insurance Group2 Frederick & Nelson2 Gimbels2 Kohl's2 Marshall Field's2 Murray, Sons and Company1 Rothmans International1 Brands Current Benson & Hedges Carroll's Craven A du Maurier Dunhill HB Kent King's Kool Lucky Strike Pall Mall Parisienne Peter Stuyvesant Player's Prince Rothmans State Express 555 Sweet Afton Tekel Viceroy Vogue Winfield Former Elita People Hugo Cunliffe-Owen James Buchanan Duke Sir Joseph Hood, 1st Baronet Jan du Plessis Other Export House 1Now integrated into other British American Tobacco subsidiaries or business entities 2Sold Category Commons

v t e Cigarettes List of cigarette brands Types Electronic Fashion Fire safe Herbal Kretek Lights Menthol Components Tobacco Rolling paper Filter Additives Peripherals Ashtray Holder Lighter Machine Pack Receptacles Culture Tobacco smoking Cigarette card Cigarette smoking among college students Smoking fetishism List of countries by cigarette consumption per capita Health issues Chain smoking Cigarette smoking for weight loss Carcinogens Nicotine poisoning Passive smoking Sidestream smoke Schizophrenia and smoking Tobacco industry Cultivation of tobacco Egyptian cigarette industry History of commercial tobacco in the United States Tobacco advertising Government and the law Smuggling Cigarette taxes in the United States List of smoking bans Smoking age Smoking bans in private vehicles Tobacco control movement Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Tobacco packaging warning messages Tobacco politics Category Commons

Mat Zo
Background information
Birth name	Matan Zohar
Also known as	MRSA, MRZO
Born	(1990-04-30) April 30, 1990 (age 22)
Origin	London, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Progressive house/trance
Occupations	Musician, DJ
Instruments	Keyboards, mixer, synthesizer
Years active	2006-present
Labels	Anjunabeats, Hospital Records, Armada Music
Associated acts	Arty, Unripelemon, Reif
Website	www.matzomusic.com

Matan "Mat Zo" Zohar (born April, 1990) is a British trance music and progressive house music producer, composer and DJ.^[1]

Life and career[link]

The son of successful artist Israel Zohar, and half-brother of Israeli singer Alma Zohar, Matan Zohar was born in London, England in 1990. He was raised by his mother who was a professional violinist, who possessed staunch musical ethos and nurtured Matan's early love of--and prodigious inclination toward--music. From age one to eleven, Zohar and his family lived in the city of Cleveland, Ohio in the United States. It was there at age 8 where his father presented young Zohar with a guitar as a gift.^[2] He returned at age 11 to London and continued pursuing his musical interests as a drummer and bassist as a member of a jazz and rock band respectively. However, Zohar became more interested in musical acts such as Daft Punk and the Chemical Brothers, and his musical inclinations shifted to those of electronic dance music and DJing. After 3 years living and producing music in London, his recording began to gain attention and play time by other disc jockeys such as DJ Tarkan, Perry O'neil, Swedish Egil, DJ R-Man, Jav D, Micah, Airwave, Andy Moor and Markus Schulz^[3] In the 2009 publication of DJ Magazine's top 100 poll he was described by musical acts Above & Beyond, Lange and Daniel Kandi as a promising producer. In the 2010 publication, Mat Zo was a new entry at #66.^[4][5][6]

Productions :

• Mat Zo "Exodus" Original Mix / Relysis Remix
• Mat Zo "No Hassle" Original Mix / Progressexual Mix: Blue Room Project
• Mat Zo "Foot And Mouth EP"
• Mat Zo "Clovers & Acid / What's Left In My Snorty" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Rush / Defined" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Lucky Strike / Synapse Dynamics" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Aurus / The Price Of Oil" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Nuclear Fusion" Original Mix / Rex Mundi Remix
• Mat Zo "Equinox / Subaquatic Dream" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Fractal Universe / This Is Reality" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Default / Rush 2009" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Near The End / Land Of The Free" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "24 Hours" Original Mix / Oliver Smith Remix
• Mat Zo "24 Hours" Rank 1 Remix
• Mat Zo "The Lost / The Found" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo "Back In Time / Millenia" Original Mixes
• Arty & Mat Zo "Rebound" Original Mix / Radio Edit
• Mat Zo "Superman" Original Mix / Mike Koglin Remix
• Mat Zo "Frequency Flyer" Original Mix
• Arty & Mat Zo "Mozart" Original Mix / Radio Edit
• Mat Zo "Loop" The Essential Unreleased Mix
• Mat Zo "Bipolar / It's Yours / Ring On It / Yoyo Ma" Original Mixes
• Mat Zo feat. Linnea Schossow "The Sky" Club Mix / Extended Mix

Remixes[link]

• Lustral "In My Life" Mat Zo Dub
• Keenan & Anderson feat. Tiff Lacey "Runaway" Mat Zo Vocal Remix/Dub
• DJ Tiesto "Driving To Heaven" Mat Zo Remix
• Lange feat. Emma Hewitt "Live Forever" Mat Zo Remix
• Soliquid "Music Is For Rich People" Mat Zo Remix
• Waterspark "Fairway" Mat Zo Remix
• U2 "Beautiful Day" Mat Zo Remix
• Mark Pledger vs. Matt Hardwick feat. Melinda Gareh "Fallen Tides" Mat Zo Vocal Remix
• Activa pres. Solar Movement "Eclipse" Mat Zo Remix
• Signalrunners "Recoil" Mat Zo Remix
• Josh Gabriel pres. Winter Kills "Deep Down" Mat Zo Remix
• Sunny Lax "P.U.M.A." Mat Zo Remix
• Tritonal "Lifted" Mat Zo Remix
• Kyau & Albert "Be There 4 U" Mat Zo Remix
• Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford "Thing Called Love" Mat Zo Remix
• Judge Jules "City Nights" Mat Zo Remix
• Kylie Minogue "Get Outta My Way" Mat Zo Remix
• Tate & Diamond Feat. Nicolai "Electrified" Mat Zo Electrofied Dub
• Above & Beyond feat. Zoë Johnston "Love is not Enough" MRZO Remix

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mat Zo Official website
• Mat Zo Myspace profile
• Mat Zo Facebook page