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iSmoke… maybe there IS such a thing as bad publicity

March 6, 2008 by Dr. Macenstein
Filed under: Photos, WTF, iPod

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Do you hear that beeping? That is the sound of every one of Apple’s lawyers frantically dialing Lucky Strike’s Germany office.

Out of all the potential companies Apple may be looking to create some advertising synergy with, odds are a cigarette company ranks fairly low on the list. Faithful German Macenstein reader Roman sent in this shot of a new Lucky Strike ad that is gracing countless bus stops throughout Berlin.

Some clever ad exec no doubt noticed that when the iPod-sized, white box of Lucky Strikes cigarettes is turned upside down, the logo looks remarkably like an iPod’s click wheel, and the big honking “Smoking can be fatal” warning looks almost exactly like the iPod’s screen, black border and all.

In Lucky Strike’s defense, given these series of coincidences, they really had no choice but to produce the “iSmoke ” ad campaign, but odds are it will be one of the shortest lived campaigns in advertising history.

(By the way, if we have any other faithful German readers, I would kill for one of these posters!)

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Comments

5 Comments on iSmoke… maybe there IS such a thing as bad publicity

Mat Pancha on Thu, 6th Mar 2008 3:39 pm

I can’t help but be amused at this.

Technically Apple can’t sue for this, its just an upside down box of cigarettes, and Apple doesn’t have a patent on “i________”.

Personally I’m very very amused at this. To the point of this is LOL worthy, if not ROFLMAO worthy.

Fabian on Thu, 6th Mar 2008 4:44 pm

the luckystrike ads have always been pretty good but this one almost let me laugh out loud when i saw it posted on my bvg bus stop yesterday morning.
i’ll see if i can get you one from a bus stop along with my very own “Das dÃ¼nnste Notebook der Welt” MacBook Air poster

greeting from berlin

Annonymus on Thu, 6th Mar 2008 9:04 pm

As far as i know there was a capain several years ago. For Barcadi Breezer “From a country where a Palm is still a tree”. nothing happened to them.

spaminator on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 1:06 am

I think it’s funny. I also enjoy lucky strikes when I can find them.
Let’s be honest, If it were an ad about a tax levvy for a school that said something lame like “i-read” nobody would care.

If you don’t like it, don’t smoke lucky’s