Lucky Strike x The Battle of Lechfeld

In 1942 Lucky Strike changed their packaging from green to white - they claimed this change was made because the copper used in their green coloring was needed for WWII. While copper was infact used in green coloring, American Tobacco actually used chromium for green ink.

Nonetheless, Lucky Strike used this as an excuse to appear patriotic to their customers, launching the famous campaign “Lucky Strike Green has gone to war!”.

This campaign stated the change in design conserves millions of pounds in vital war materials, whilst introducing the new white packaging.

Their clever slogan implies the iconic green packaging has literally gone to war, as if Lucky Strike is directly supporting the troops through their redesign.

For a few months cartons featured a small insert about the change, which featured 6 graphics showing war-related machinery (see slides).

The real reason they changed to white was because market research suggested it had more appeal to female smokers, and conveniently reduced their printing costs. However the slogan “Lucky Strike Green costs too much, and women prefer white” wouldn’t have worked too well…

The Battle of Lechfeld (year unknown) by Franz Sales Lochbihler depicts a 3 day battle where the Kingdom of Germany, led by King Otto I the Great, decimated the Hungarian army who invaded the Duchy of Bavaria in 955.

Otto sorted them out rather swiftly, and shortly was proclaimed emperor and father of the fatherland. It was due to his strengthened position after this battle that allowed him to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962.

I wanted to take the Lucky Strike slogan to a literal sense, planting the green packaging in an open field battle.

I chose this painting based on the depth of the battle, it helps communicate the sheer size of the Lucky Strike planted in the battlefield - almost as if Lucky Strike are the War-related machinery they claimed to be supporting.