Death (cigarette)
{{Short description|British cigarette brand}}
{{See also|Charles Southwood#Death Cigarettes}}
{{infobox brand
| name= Death
| logo=
| image= 250px
| caption= An old Finnish pack of Death cigarettes, with Finnish and Swedish text warnings at the bottom of the pack.
| type= Cigarette
| producedby= Enlightened Tobacco Company
| origin= United Kingdom
| introduced= {{start date and age|1991}}
| discontinued= 1999
| related=
| markets= See Markets
| previousowners=
| trademarkregistrations=
| ambassadors=
| tagline=
| website=
| footnotes = Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1
}}
Death was a British brand of cigarettes which was owned and manufactured by the Enlightened Tobacco Company in the United Kingdom from 1991 to 1999.{{cite web | url=http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Death+Cigarettes | title=Death Cigarettes | publisher=Medical Dictionary | accessdate=January 2, 2014 |author=}}{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2872930/First-Death-then-Shag-welcome-to-the-world-of-cult-student-cigarettes.html|title=First Death, then Shag - welcome to the world of cult student cigarettes|publisher=The Telegraph|date=January 2, 2004|accessdate=January 2, 2014|author=Murray, Rosey}} It was conceived as a satirical statement on cigarette marketing and advertising, intended to criticize or reveal the true intent of cigarette marketing: namely, the idea that cigarettes were a product that, when consumed in the manner for which they had been manufactured, were essentially fatal and likely to contribute to the death of the person smoking them. {{cite web|url=https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/when-death-cigarettes-lit-up-the-field-of-noxious-marketing/|title=When Death Cigarettes Lit Up The Field Of Noxious Marketing|publisher=Adweek|date=April 18, 2019|accessdate=February 22, 2021|author=Klara, Robert}}
History
Entrepreneur BJ Cunningham{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FlE-6fPqReAC&pg=PA114 | title=Persuasion in Advertising | publisher=Routledge |author1=John O'Shaughnessy |author2=Nicholas O'Shaughnessy | year=2004 | location=New York, New York | pages=114–115| isbn=9781134354108 }} invested his life savings to create and market an additive-free smoking product called Death. He founded the Enlightened Tobacco Company in 1991. Its product disclosed its hazardous nature by prominently displaying skull and crossbones on its outer package and came in two varieties; Death, and Death Lights.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mAjMaRr9d5gC&pg=PA88 | title=Good Reasons for Better Arguments | publisher=Broadview Press |author1=Jerome E. Bickenbach |author2=Jacqueline M. Davies | year=1997 | pages=88| isbn=9781551110592 }} The product was marketed to the "young underground punk rock" consumer market. The products were sold for a time via mail order from Luxembourg to avoid the United Kingdom's excise tax; however, after some time, the Customs and Excise department disallowed this sales channel.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTMhAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT94 | title=The Cigarette Book | publisher=Sky Horse Publishing |author1=Chris Harrald |author2=Fletcher Watkins | year=2010 | location=New York, New York| isbn=9781628732412 }}
=The company=
The company's plans to offer sponsorship to the Pacific Racing F1 in 1994 fell through after Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were killed at the San Marino Grand Prix.{{cite web|url=http://www.f1rejects.com/teams/pacific/profile.html|title=Pacific: Full Profile|date=15 September 2004|work=Formula One Rejects|accessdate=14 February 2010|archive-date=3 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103080942/http://www.f1rejects.com/teams/pacific/profile.html|url-status=dead}} That year the company was turned down by the "top five poster contractors" who would not provide the company with permission to use their sites because of its "blunt" marketing message and a pending parliamentary bill restricting tobacco advertising.{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/poster-ban-on-death-cigarettes-1435491.html | title=Poster ban on Death cigarettes | work=The Independent | date=May 13, 1994 | accessdate=January 2, 2014 | author=Williams, Rhys}}
The company "was losing a million pounds per year" and could not afford a massive advertising campaign. The firm's trademark rights were successfully challenged by an alcohol company called Black Death. The impending lawsuit barred the sale of Death cigarettes and the company closed down.{{cite web|url=http://www.kleinlitigationblog.com/the-death-cigarette-trademark-infringement-litigation-case/ |title=THE DEATH CIGARETTE TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT LITIGATION CASE |publisher=Klein Trial Lawyers |date=October 25, 2008 |accessdate=January 2, 2014 |author=Klein Trial Lawyers |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103123905/http://www.kleinlitigationblog.com/the-death-cigarette-trademark-infringement-litigation-case |archivedate=January 3, 2014 }}
Markets
Death cigarettes were mainly sold in the United Kingdom, but were also sold in Ireland, the United States, Norway and Finland.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cigarettespedia.com/index.php/BrandDeath|title = BrandDeath - Cigarettes Pedia}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.zigsam.at/B_Death.htm|title = Death}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://msvapor.com/boz-temple-morris-death-cigarettes/ To the Best of Our Knowledge 12/31/2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129105714/http://msvapor.com/boz-temple-morris-death-cigarettes/ |date=2014-11-29 }}: Wisconsin public radio interview with Boz Temple-Morris, co-founder and marketing director for the Enlightened Tobacco Company.
Category:Products introduced in 1991
Category:1991 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1999 disestablishments in the United Kingdom