Tobacco advertising

Given the world in which we live today where so much is controlled (tobacco and alcohol advertising to mention only two), today’s generation cannot imagine an era gone by when tobacco advertising was not only permitted, but was done so darn well that it was “cool to smoke.” (Please, I do not wish to enter into a debate on the negatives of smoking, all I want to do is point out incredible advertising of yester year; especially that for Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes)

Peter Stuyvesant (1612 – 1672) served as the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland until 1664 when it was handed over to the Brits before it was renamed New York.  A cigarette brand by American Tobacco is named after Stuyvesant and very popular in Australia, Greece, New Zealand and South Africa.

Popular? You’ve got to be kidding me! Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes RULED and DOMINATED the South African advertising scene during the days of smoking. There was not a bigger honor (and for that matter, a lucrative one too!) than writing the jingle for the Stuyvesant commercials.  The commercials all had the same concept: beautiful jetsetters traveling all over the world, with the Stuyvesant music playing in the background, living the good life, the one that so many of us aspire to. Who did not know the tag line:

PETER STUYVESANT, YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT TO SMOKING PLEASURE.

Composing the music for the Stuyvesant commercials was the ultimate prize in advertising in those days. Americans did very well and walked off with the top prize (hear say has it that it was a half a million some 30 – 40 years ago!) time after time. And then one day a call came from a production house with which we had done a lot of work. For the first time in the history of Peter Stuyvesant, the music was NOT by an American team, but rather a South African team and we were all invited to a preview. What an experience (unfortunately I was not able to lay my hands on that commercial, but I remember it so well: night skiing in the Alps to the tune of the incredible Stuyvesant music). Look at the two commercials below: