Copper paint was used to protect the wooden hulls from marine worm damage, and Hill had just learned that copper was an ingredient in the ink needed for the gold bands on the Lucky Strike label.
Eureka! George Hill’s new “Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War!” advertising campaign touted the fact that enough bronze (copper and tin alloy) was saved each year to meet the requirements for 400 light tanks, those “speedy battering-rams of destruction!”
Lord & Thomas, the Chicago advertising agency that promoted Lucky Strike, received a lot of hate mail because of the patriotic slogan. Critics felt patriotism was being exploited, but Lucky Strike sales did go up dramatically. The “Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War!” campaign broke about the same time that American troops invaded North Africa in November 1942. Six weeks later, Lucky Strike sales were up 38%.
MORE “OLDER THAN DIRT” TRIVIA
- 1st Annual “Older Than Dirt” Trivia Quiz
- 2nd Annual “Older Than Dirt” Trivia Quiz
- 3rd Annual “Older Than Dirt” Trivia Quiz
- 3rd-and-a-Half “Older Than Dirt” Trivia Quiz
- Fifth Annual Geezer Test! Are You “Older Than Dirt?”
