How the world's first celebrity influencer campaign rocked America in 1920s

Some of you might be aware of the controversial 2006 “PayPerPost” programme that Ted Murphy of Ad firm Mincomet launched, much to the dismay of leading technology and marketing leaders. With more than 15,000 bloggers in his network, this new platform that connected brands and bloggers went on to raise $3M in funding. In 2009, that bold but controversial experiment led Ted to influencer programmes with SponsoredTweets.com, with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Holly Madison, and Kendra Wilkinson willing to tweet for a payment. In both the programmes, disclosure was voluntary.

And influencer marketing has not looked back since then.

But did you know that the first influencer campaign was kick-started way back in 1920s… by Lucky Strike, a brand of cigarettes referred to colloquially as "Luckies."

In 1927, the brand rolled out a massive campaign saying it’s cigarettes that could replace a sweet and lead to thinness. To promote this, George Washington Hill, of American Tobacco, hired Lasker of Lord & Thomas Advertising firm to run a campaign dubbed “Precious Voice” where famous opera stars and popular Hollywood movie stars attested that they smoked Luckies. Claude Hopkins, a preacher turned copywriter who became famous for his direct-mail advertising, sent more than 400,000 pamphlets for Dr Shoop’s every day.

Washington’s brilliant move during the start of the campaign was to rope in Edward Bernays, author of the popular book, “Propaganda,” that revealed to the American public the government’s strategy to build popular opinion during the World War I.

Edward scripted the campaign strategy along with Ad Man Lasker to launch the world’s first celebrity influencer testimonial campaign.

Together they convinced leading opera singers, Hollywood actors and popular sports personalities to lend their credibility for the campaign. Each star was paid a ransom for testimonials that they used Luckies.

The likes of Jazz Singer star Al Jonson called Lucky Strike "the cigarette of the acting profession...the good old flavour of Luckies is as sweet and soothing as the best Mammy song ever written”.

Douglas Fairbanks, the Hollywood hero, endorsed it. So did Bob Hope and Clark Gable.

Major studios RCA, Paramount, MGM and Columbia partnered with American Tobacco for this campaign. In return for their star’s endorsements, they got free advertising for their movies.

Lending star power for their campaign, Luckies also got Amelia Earhart, a non-smoker and the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic, to endorse Lucky Strike. She claimed in public that she smoked these cigarettes throughout her journey. While in reality, she was a non-smoker.

The “Propaganda” author, Edward Bernays, was called to coax women to smoke in public when in the 1920s it was a taboo for women in the US to smoke outdoors. In a bid to break social stereotypes, Bernays hired some good looking women to participate in the Easter Day parade in New York in 1929. Ruth Hale, a feminist, was roped in to write a letter inviting women to march in the parade by carrying “the freedom torch” (a Lucky Strike cigarette). This PR stunt had newspapers splashing the event on their front pages. And the campaign was a stunning success. For years, no one knew it was a paid publicity stunt.

American Tobacco alone paid the stars who endorsed Lucky Strike cigarettes US$ 218,750 in the late 1930s, equivalent to $3.2 million in today's money. Individual stars earned up to $5,000 per year, equivalent to around $75,000 in today's money.

And…… the American public never knew that the stars were paid to say it.

Sales went from 14 billion cigarettes to 40 billion in 1930, making Lucky Strike the leading brand nationwide. Lucky Strike was the top-selling cigarette brand in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s.

By 1931, George Washington of American Tobacco Company that produced Lucky Strike spent about $20M in advertising it.

The US Federal Trade Commission tried in vain to stop these celebrity testimonial campaigns that misled the American public, but the advertisers found loopholes to win. Finally, it was television that ended the relationship between tobacco companies and studios by integrating product advertisements in Hollywood movies.

Looks like transparency in celebrity & influencer campaigns then…. and now (even in India) has been a bit of an issue.

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