Murad Cigarette Ads

[Click either to enlarge]

Surely one of the most gorgeously over-the-top ad campaigns for any cigarette was the long-running series for Murad brand. What a realm of fantasy!

Read a small history of the brand and see a large gallery of images here.

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Comments

The shape and the fact that they come in a box remind me of 'English Ovals' which I could find at only one location in the whole tri-state area.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/12/13 at 01:44 PM

Smoking ads, how politically incorrect! The haven't been allowed stateside for some time, at least on TV anyway. Curiosity prompts me to ask, do you smoke Expat?

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/12/13 at 09:15 PM

Interesting! They were marketing Turkish cigarettes to an English-speaking market at a time (World War I) when the entire English-speaking world was at war with Turkey (then the Ottoman Empire), Austria-Hungary and Germany. The power of advertising!

Great art, by the way. It looks more like it was done in the 1920s or 1930s -- surprisingly contemporary.

Posted by Harvey on 08/12/13 at 09:38 PM

@Patty: Being a Baby Boomer the answer is 'of course'! Well, usta do but I quit about 5 or 6 years ago. After many a failed attempts over the decades I used Champex (or Chantix) to block the receptors in my brain and stop the craving. Then it was just a matter of getting my hands out of the habit.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/12/13 at 11:22 PM

That's great sweetie! I am just glad I dodged that particular bullet because I know I'd never have gotten that monkey off my back.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/13/13 at 12:01 AM

Oddly enough, Ottoman Sultan Murad IV used to patrol the taverns of Constantinople and order the summary execution of anyone caught smoking. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murad_IV#Absolute_Rule_and_Imperial_Policies_.281632-1640.29

Posted by Josh Levin on 08/13/13 at 08:03 PM

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