L&M

L&M is an American brand of cigarettes, owned and manufactured by Altria and Philip Morris International. The name comes from the tobacco company founded in 1873 called Liggett & Myers, predecessor of Liggett Group, by whom L&M was originally produced.

History

L&M was launched in 1885 by Liggett & Myers as a brand of plug chewing tobacco.[1][2] In 1952 or 1953, the first L&M cigarettes were created, and they were one of the earliest brands to have a filter that was not one-sided.[1][3] When L&M was launched, their slogan was "American cigarettes of the highest quality with the best filter". Liggett Group later made a proposal to take the brand international due to their success in the American market.

Controversy

L&M and doctor-approved cigarettes

In the 1950s, L&M introduced an ad campaign called "Just What the Doctor Ordered!". This campaign came at the time L&M introduced the first filtered cigarette. In these L&M advertisements from the early 1950s, "just what the doctor ordered" had a double-meaning. Not only did it imply that L&M cigarettes were satisfying in that they offered both flavour and protection, but it also implied that doctors approved of the brand. In an advertisement that appeared in a February 1954 issue of Life, Hollywood star Fredric March made an assertion after having read the letter written by a "Dr. Darkis" that was inset into the advertisement. Darkis explained in this letter that L&M filters used a "highly purified alpha cellulose" that was "entirely harmless" and "effectively filtered the smoke".[22][23][16]

Similar contemporaneous advertisements from Viceroy claimed that their filtered cigarettes were healthy because doctors recommended Viceroys to patients. These ads claimed health benefits for filters, though filters actually did little to reduce the hazards of smoking. In fact, tobacco industry chemists were aware that most filters actually removed no more tar and nicotine than would the same length of tobacco. However, a series of Reader's Digest articles worked to publicize these dubious health claims for filters in the 1950s.

One such article, entitled "How Harmful are Cigarettes?" (1950) claimed that artificial filters took out nicotine and that silica-gel cartridges removed 60% of nicotine from cigarettes. This article spurred Viceroy to print advertisements a week later which read: "Reader's Digest tells why filtered cigarette smoke is better for your health." These health claims sparked a boom in Viceroy cigarette sales, as well as an onslaught of new filter cigarette brands flooding the market. Kent was introduced in 1952 with a filter made of treated asbestos on crepe paper. In 1953, L&M followed with a miracle tip, and Philip Morris advertised its diethylene glycol (Di-Gl) filter cigarette as the cigarette that took the fear out of smoking. In the next two years, Marlboro was re-released as a filter cigarette that targeted men (it had previously targeted women, with a beauty tip to protect the lips), and Winston was introduced with an advertising budget of $15 million.[6]

Bulgarian Customs destroy counterfeit L&M cigarettes

On July 21, 2011, the Bulgarian customs authorities and Phillip Morris Bulgaria representatives organized the destruction of over 7 million counterfeit cigarettes bearing the mark L&M. The destroyed cigarettes were part of over 14.5 million cigarettes seized by the Bulgarian customs officials in September 2010 and February 2011 at the border checkpoints Kulata and Ilinden, southwestern Bulgaria. Bulgaria’s Customs Agency and Philip Morris Bulgaria had signed a co-operation agreement aimed at fighting the illicit trade of tobacco products. L&M cigarettes made 3% of all seized cigarettes in Bulgaria in 2010 and 9% of all seized cigarettes during the first five months of 2011.[24]

type	Cigarette
currentowner	Lacy Laszló Miklós
origin	United States
introduced	1885
markets	See Markets
previousowners	Liggett & Myers
tagline	"American cigarettes of the highest quality with the best filter", "Come on Over to the L&M Side, Just for the Taste of It!"
website	lm.com
footnotes	Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1

History

Marketing

Markets

Controversy

L&M and doctor-approved cigarettes

Bulgarian Customs destroy counterfeit L&M cigarettes

Sponsorship

Motorsports

Television shows

See also

External links

References