Despite its global appeal, the origins of tobacco remain obscure in terms of time, but historians are pretty sure that native Indians of North America were the first to use tobacco as both medicine and for pleasure. Wandering natives carried tobacco with them across North and South America.

When Europeans landed in America in search of wealth, they encountered indigenous peoples who had been cultivating; chewing and smoking tobacco for hundreds of years and many developed a fondness for it.

By the 16th century a regular tobacco trade had been established and this gave cultivation a huge impetus. Infact the cultivation of tobacco formed the economic basis of the first successful English colonies in North America.

After the American Revolution, tobacco became a major crop, expanding from colonial areas of Virginia and Maryland into Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri and beyond. The popularity of tobacco increased despite the growing awareness of the health hazards its use entailed.


This rare set of CDs examines the efforts of early cigarette manufacturers at advertising their products in many innovative forms.

Sample thumbnails taken from the collection. Click on image to view larger picture.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

"It is interesting to note that tobacco advertising in America first appeared in 1789, when the Lorillard brothers advertised their snuff and tobacco products in a local New York daily paper.

Early on, tobacco companies used trade cards, tin tags and posters to advertise their products. The first manufacturer to take advantage of color lithography developed in the late 1870s to promote its products was James B. Duke. This enterprising businessman revealed his marketing genius with the creation of a whole new way of advertising tobacco and cigarettes. Duke used a variety of attractive colorful images printed on a small cardboard insert, which was added to stiffen the box. Surprisingly, some of these images had nothing at all to do with any of Duke’s products, but helped Duke in achieving his objective of creating mass appeal for his products.

Duke employed a little imagination and turned these simple workhorses into a powerful marketing tool by printing the brand name of the cigarettes along with a picture that was part of a larger series and which was meant to be collected.

Series of birds, flags, Civil War generals, leading American citizens and baseball players were employed, frequently with historical or educational information on them. Photographs of "actresses" - women placed in a variety of poses and often rather revealing costumes for the time - also were used on the insert cards and exceeded all expectations in their popularity among the public.

This rare set of CDs contains hundreds of these insert cards, along with posters, trade cards and other tobacco advertising items, which are arranged by names of manufacturers, prominent among which are Dukes, Crosscut, Harp, Harlequin and Old Virginia.

This is an invaluable record of the history of advertising and will be a priceless addition to any collection - personal or corporate."

CUSTOMER'S REVIEWS:

"This set of CDs is absolutely fabulous, both in terms of its contents and also the quality of the images it carries. The insight and creativity exhibited by advertises is simply mind-boggling. I always attributed indirect marketing techniques to modern day marketing gurus but these CDs proved me wrong by a long shot!"

Thanks a2zcds for this wonderful eye-opener!

Customer's Name: Harry Patton (South Bend, Indiana)