The Spirit of Advertising

By Britta Proppe

During the process of finding a topic for this blog, I recently took a closer look at something I hold in hands nearly every day: a box of cigarettes. Yes, I am a smoker, I have to confess and of course I know it is not good for me. Still, I do smoke from time to time, occasionally only and most importantly I smoke good cigarettes made from organically grown tobacco without additives and yes; I am myself the best example for a working marketing strategy.

After I happened to become aware of this very item of my everyday life, I started to think about the image on the box: a Native American with a feather headdress smoking a pipe. I asked myself what it reveals about our culture to utilize such an image for commercializing a good that is unhealthy, that is even destructive, regardless of the additives it claims to lack. And I also started to wonder what Native Americans might think about said picture.

The boxes of “Natural American Spirit” cigarettes are quiet appealing. They are colourful, available in orange, yellow and blue according to intensity of the cigarette. The centre of the box features a circle and within the circle head and torso of a Native American man with a big headdress is depicted. He is smoking a calumet, a ceremonial smoking pipe, which is decorated with a feather.

The logo works well, especially in our European culture, because we have a certain image of Native Americans. In spite of the great diversity of Native American tribes, which have big cultural differences, our stereotyped picture is that of the plain Indians with feathers and ponies back in the good times before white settlers and missionaries nearly destroyed their culture. It is the picture of a people, which led a non-destructive and sensible way of life, never harming Mother Nature and therefore, we suggest, they also did not harm themselves, as they were part of nature also. For us this image is in no way connected to severe diseases such as cancer or other lifestyle diseases often caused by smoking.

The company behind the brand is originally American (not Native American, of course) but the brand is also sold in Europe by affiliations in Amsterdam and Hamburg. It has become a popular item in European culture. The marketing strategy is different to other cigarette brands; it aims to be exclusive, people who buy the cigarettes are supposed to consider themselves part of a minority; they are supposed to consider themselves special. Therefore the cigarettes are available in organic food stores- probably the first and only cigarette to be sold in such stores.  People who care for the environment, who are interested in sustainability are given the opportunity to tame their bad conscience that comes with smoking by buying an organic cigarette. The image of a Native American on the box is very helpful for this very attitude. It goes well with the romanticised picture as described before. The strategy seems to work quiet well. The affiliated company in Hamburg started off with three employees in and is now a thriving business with a team consisting of 27 people.

The native tribes of North America used the tobacco for religious ceremonies or to seal a treaty. It was sacred to them and moreover they often did not like to share these ceremonies with others who were alien to their culture; they wanted to hold on to their cultural heritage. “Natural American Spirit”, however, is a trademark, which successfully uses Native American symbols to sell their product in order to make money.

Maybe Native Americans should put a copyright on their sacred items such as their calumets and headdresses; they would make a whole lot of money. But wait...should they?

Maybe that is just not the spirit.

Works Cited:
http://www.americanspirit-info.de/home.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_%28pipe%29#References
http://www.tabakfrei.de/tabakgeschichte.htm