Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Cigarette Ads?

This is topic Cigarette Ads? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Daniel Alt (Member # 2303) on 07-16-2004, 09:41 PM:

In my continuing oddesey through the weird miscelany under our booth, I have encountered what appears to be a Barclay cigarette add. While the "Krull" (1983) trailer it was spliced to was SERIOUSLY faded, the ad itself looks great. Judging from the hairstyles, the ad was made in the early 80's, but I could be wrong. I haven't actually run the thing because our booth is currently disassembled for upgrades to the sound system.

My question is... Cigarette ads? In movie theaters? Is that legal? Was it legal in the 80s? Were ads in theaters at ALL all that common in the early 80s? I don't remember them all that well, but then again, I was 7. Does anyone have any further comment on such things?

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 07-16-2004, 11:29 PM:

Screenvision made those ads. We ran the Barclay & Kent cigarette commercials as well as the Flick your Bic ads at the Sunset Drive-in theater in Tumwater, Wash. back in early and mid 80's.

Posted by Richard C. Wolfe (Member # 431) on 07-17-2004, 12:35 AM:

While I have never run paid for ads per say, I did run the Bic message that announced free Bic Lighters to all patrons which we gave out as our patrons left the theatre. We also did the tie-in with the mens and ladies razors as well. Those were also given out as people left. Two products that you would certainly not want to give out when people entered. I remember that there was a specific cut off date for the razor giveaway, and when it ended we still had a case and a half of the female razors. The only difference between the male and female razors was that the ones for the men were green, and for the woman pink. They didn't want them back. My wife used them for the next twenty years. It has only been a couple of years since they finally ran out.

I also remember that in the mid to late 70s that United Artists Theatres ran national screen ads.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-17-2004, 05:04 AM:

The Bic package was here when I bought my drive-in in the mid-'80s... a short skit, featuring a couple of "flickng Bics", then a banner for "Intermission", "Previews of Coming Attractions" or "Feature Presentation". It was pretty cute at the time, but is very un-PC now.

"Superflick... Helllllllllllp!"

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 07-17-2004, 01:10 PM:

I definitely remember seeing a cigarette trailer when I saw "Return of the Jedi" for the second time in 1983- it was after it had been out awhile so there weren't many people in the theater, but after everyone realized what it was there was a collective "Booooo!"
It started out with a party scene with some jazz music and a few people smoking, it looked like it could have been a movie trailer, then at the end it was revealed to be a cigarette ad, with the screen essentially looking like a billboard, complete with the surgeon general warning at the bottom.

Posted by Daniel Alt (Member # 2303) on 07-18-2004, 11:01 AM:

When were cigarette ads outlawed at the movies? I know they were illegal on TV long before the 80s.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-18-2004, 12:11 PM:

I don't know that they are.

I ran that Barclay ad, too, in the mid-80s. When it was over, I gave the print to an art chick from the local college, who kept kissing up to me for film. She wove it into some kind of large pattern on a frame, and sold it at an auction for about $15,000!!

I didn't see a cent. But from that point on, I stopped giving things away -- or, at least made sure it was worth my while!

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 07-19-2004, 09:40 PM:

quote: Daniel Alt
While the "Krull" (1983) trailer it was spliced to was SERIOUSLY faded, the ad itself looks great.

That was right about the time of the conversion to the much more stable dyes in EASTMAN Color Print Film 5384, so it certainly would be possible the "Krull" trailer was on the old film with less stable dyes, and the new one was on the ECP 5384. AFAIK, no dye transfer print films were in use then.

Posted by Andrew Lee (Member # 1330) on 07-21-2004, 11:03 AM:

When I was living in Japan in the late 80's and early 90's, I would go to the local cinema just to watch the ads prior to the movies. Back then, many famous Hollywood actors would do commercials (TV and Cinema) that they would not dare do in North America. One of my all time favourites were a series of cig ads that Lee Marvin did. They were absolutely great. I'm not promoting cigs, but these spots were in a class by themselves.