The Lucky Level

[LLeff]

Had to share a line from a commercial that cracked me up:

"Get on the Lucky level, where it's FUN to be alive!"

It's so much FUN to be alive, who cares if Luckies shave five or ten years off of it? Can't have TOO much fun, y'know.

So here's a question...we've talked about how we've gotten hooked on Jell-O when listening to those shows, and a few who tried Grape Nuts/Flakes during those shows. Seems that most people don't respond to the Luckies commercials, mainly because we're nonsmokers. BUT...are there any smokers out there who have been persuaded to try Luckies from listening to the Benny shows?

[shimp scrampi]

The Luckies ads will get in your head and repeat endlessly though, even if you don't have the nicotine bug to speed them along. In that sense I would argue that the Lucky jingles are harder to shake than the Jell-O ads.

Take two seconds and think:

Luck-ies Taste Better/Cleaner! Fresher! Smoother!

If You Want Better Taste From Your Cigarette, Lucky Strike is the Brand to Get!

or the "Poet and Peasant Overture" version of L-S-M-F-T

And you're cursed for the rest of the day!

My favorite silly Lucky bit is a Mr. Kitzelism - "There's Never a Riff-Raff in a Lucky!" (of course that should be 'Rough Puff")

Given that the biggest-selling Luckies are the -unfiltered- variety, I would guess there isn't a SMOOTH puff in a lucky!

[Alleged]

are there any smokers out there who have been persuaded to try Luckies from listening to the Benny shows?

Good grief, I *love* Benny and prefer to listen to them undedited. HOWEVER....the variations of the Lucky auctioneer chant, the theme song (including the sort of "calypso" version in the early '50s) is alternately grating and heartbreaking.

The opening commercials are pure, unadulterated brainwashing and will stay in your head for days if you let it.

The number of people addicted to and later killed by cigarettes is the only possible sinister association with Jack Benny, a "gentle man".

I knew that it was acknowledged that cigarettes weren't particularly healthy even then, but good grief, how many Benny fans walked away from the radio and addicted themselves...

[David47Jens]

So here's a question...we've talked about how we've gotten hooked on Jell-O when listening to those shows, and a few who tried Grape Nuts/Flakes during those shows. Seems that most people don't respond to the Luckies commercials, mainly because we're nonsmokers. BUT...are there any smokers out there who have been persuaded to try Luckies from listening to the Benny shows?

Okay, first: No lectures, anyone, please? I know smoking is a stupid & dangerous habit, but I have a few others as well... which I won't sharing on the Forum anytime soon!

Anyway...

As an on-again, off-again smoker who was smoking during the late '80s (when I first became addicted to Jack Benny OTR cassettes -- a much healthier addiction, I might add), I can admit to picking up one pack of Luckies after being barraged by constant ads on the various Benny tapes.

I was not too enamored with a non-filtered cigarette, however. I prefer the filtered variety; after all, it's much healthier to put a gun to your head if said gun has a silencer on it, right?

Anyway, although I regularly carried whatever "my" brand was at the time (It's changed over the years, usually influenced by the brand of whatever smoker I'm spending most of my time with whenever I fall off the nicotine wagon!), I left the pack of Luckies in my car's glove compartment, smoking one or two occasionally until they were gone. And afterwards, I felt no motivation to buy them again.

As an aside, I should mention that I collect ads and other memorabilia involving the Lucky Strike green packs, which, as any true Benny fan should know, pre-dates Jack's post-WWII involvement with the brand.