This 1920 advertisement might seem out of place in the Smoking Gun gallery. The gun reference lies in the rather old fashioned, text-heavy sales pitch, while the brand illustration is frankly spooky. However, it neatly illustrates the post war repurposing of guns in the advertising arsenal.
The First World War established cigarettes as the most popular way to enjoy tobacco but it also tarnished firearms’ military association exploited in earlier advertisements. While survivors of the conflict had acquired the smoking habit, they did not want reminders of the circumstances. Nothing daunted, advertisers began to use guns to represent an aspirational lifestyle enjoyed by the wealthy country set – ironically the original cigarette smoking minority.
Exotic Turkish cigarettes came to England in the late 1850s, but the partnership responsible – Blacque and Theoridi – collapsed under the latter’s gambling problem. Marcovitch, one of their former employees, seized the opportunity and set about making and selling Turkish cigarettes with the help of his wife and two daughters. Production and sales were limited until they attracted the attention of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). His patronage secured Marcovitch funding and his fashionable set a ready market. The firm prospered, enabling Markovitch to expand his range to include Virginian tobacco and to retire on the profits while the firm continued into the 1930s.