Hamlet is a brand of cigar produced by the Gallaher Group division of Japan Tobacco. First launched in the United Kingdom in 1964, they are now sold in a number of western European markets in both miniatures and regular length, and were frequently described as "the mild cigar" in their former advertising campaigns.
Advertising
Hamlet cigars are most famous in the UK for their advertising campaign "Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet", which presented scenes in which a character, having failed dismally at something, is consoled by lighting a Hamlet cigar. The product being advertised was deliberately made unclear until the cigar itself appeared, accompanied by the tune of Bach's Air on the G String played by French musician Jacques Loussier, followed by the slogan "Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet". Classic examples included:
- Photo Booth - the most famous skit starring Gregor Fisher as The Baldy Man (a spin off character from the Scottish comedy show Naked Video). The man enters an automatic photo booth, and makes two unsuccessful attempts at taking a photo of himself, before the chair collapses on the third attempt.