LS/MFT

By Gary White

Alright, loyal CV fans, here is the first pop quiz for this blog. What does LSMFT refer to? The graphic should give you a hint. Know the answer before you began reading—A+, know the answer when you saw the graphic—A, still unsure? Well the answer lies at the end of this piece.
As the graphic states, “Lucky Strike green has gone to war.” This was a significant event in the White household because my father was a one-pack-a-day smoker, and his brand was Lucky Strike. Suddenly the previous green packaging was changed to plain white (which it has remained ever since). We puzzled over why the green ink was necessary for the war effort—did they use it to dye cloth for soldier’s uniforms? Was the green ink imported from Germany or Japan? Just why was it gone? My father swore that the new white package Luckys tasted different from the old green package product. I couldn’t corroborate this, since I wasn’t allowed to smoke.

Of course, as a child growing up in a household where at least half of that pack per day was smoked inside the house I was getting my fair share of nicotine. My mother had no knowledge of this fact—it would be many decades before the concept of “second hand smoke” would enter the lexicon of American English. Sitting next to my father’s chair in the living room was his “smoke stand,” a two-foot-tall metal stand with an ash tray and holders for matches and cigarettes at the top. The air in the house constantly smelled of cigarette smoke. That was, of course, mixed with the constant smell of gasoline on dad’s clothing. I’m sure my clothes also smelled of petroleum when I traveled with him in the delivery truck. My earliest memory of being out with dad was when he put a box with a can of axle grease on the passenger’s seat and I used it as a booster chair to be able to see out.

Anyway, back to Lucky Strike green. It was not until I looked up the graphic yesterday that I learned that it was all a Madison Avenue trick to make smoking Luckys patriotic and more popular with the ladies—sneaky devils. If you doubt this go to: http://www.snopes.com/business/market/luckystrike.asp where you will see the straight scoop on the matter. (OK, if you have gone to that site you now know the answer to the quiz above.) Well, it worked! Lucky Strike sales increased by 40%—just as trickery seems to always work.

So, for those too lazy to go surfing the web for the answers, here is the long promised answer to our first quiz. LS/MFT stands for Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco! Now then don’t you feel somehow smarter and better informed?