Lucky Strike Green Campaign

In the 1920s and 1930s, Edward Bernays and George Washington Hill, the president of America Tobacco, teamed up to promote cigarette smoking among women, an endeavor that was to haunt Bernays when the dangers of cigarettes were revealed later.

The flagship brand for American Tobacco was Lucky Strike, and Hill had spent years and millions of dollars promoting the signature green Lucky Strike packaging. This green color was problematic because survey research found that women did not buy Lucky Strikes because the green packaging clashed with their wardrobes. Hill called upon Bernays to remedy the situation but stated that changing the color of the packaging was not an option. Bernays responded, “If you won't change the color of the package, change the color of fashion—to green.” Thus, the promotion of green was born. Bernays was to develop a campaign to get women to wear green in order to prevent Lucky Strikes from clashing with their outfits.

The promotion of green was a six-month effort driven by the formative research that revealed why women were not buying Lucky Strikes. The problem was that women were not wearing green. Bernays did additional research on the color green itself. He found in the book Language of Color that green was associated with hope, victory, and plenty and was a positive psychological color. The goal was to make green a fashionable color for women. The next task was to identify the targets for the green message. To reach women on the basic fashion issue, Bernays relied on New York City debutantes, the same group he used in 1929 to promote the acceptability of women smoking in public with his “Torches of Freedom” campaign. The debutantes were opinion leaders for women's fashion. If they wore green, other women would wear green. Fashion editors were a second target. Favorable stories about green would facilitate women's wearing the color.

The basic message was simple: Green is the “in” color. The challenge was to develop the tactics that would make green a desirable color. The Green Ball, a formal dance held at the Waldorf Astoria, was the most visible tactic in the promotion of green. The color green was to be the theme, and all the attendees were required to wear green gowns, as the purpose of the ball was to show debutantes wearing green and to generate favorable accounts of the color in the fashion magazines. A successful ball would help to establish green as an acceptable color for women to wear.

Lucky Strike Cigarettes used a variety of campaigns to sell products in the 1930s, from promoting green—the color of their cigarette packaging—as fashionable for women to featuring Santa Claus as a customer, as in this 1936 advertisement. “Luckies are easy on my throat,” Santa is quoted as saying. “There are no finer tobaccos than those used in Luckies, and Luckies' exclusive process is your throat protection against irritation…against cough.”

© Bettmann/CORBIS

Bernays felt the key to the Green Ball was the right hostess. With the right woman at the helm, the Green Ball would attract the leading debutantes and have the maximum impact. Bernays selected Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip, the wife of the former National City Bank chairman. She was well known and well connected in New York City society. But how would Bernays convince her to play hostess? Mrs. Vanderlip was also the chairwoman of the Women's Infirmary of New York. Bernays developed an early form of social marketing to entice [Page 497]Mrs. Vanderlip to play hostess. The proceeds from the Green Ball would go to the Women's Infirmary to help with various projects, such as clothing for patients and milk for undernourished children. A nameless sponsor would help to defray costs with a $25,000 donation, and Bernays would “donate” his services. Mrs. Vanderlip recruited the elite of New York society to help her. Women such as Mrs. James Roosevelt, Mrs. Walter Chrysler, and Mrs. Irving Berlin populated the invitation committee. The Green Ball was assured of being attended by prominent guests.

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