Original vintage 11950's Coca-Cola U.S. Army "That Extra Something!...You Can Spot It Every Time" & Lucky Strike Advert "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco!" double-sided advertisement.
Dimensions: This advert measures approximately 8 inches wide by 10.75 inches high.
Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, Coca-Cola was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1888, Pemberton sold the ownership rights to Asa Griggs Candler, a businessman, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the global soft-drink market throughout the 20th and 21st century.
When launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut (also spelled "cola nut" at the time, a source of caffeine), leading to the name Coca-Cola.
The formula of Coca-Cola remains a trade secret; however, a variety of reported recipes and experimental recreations have been published. The secrecy around the formula has been used by Coca-Cola as a marketing aid because only a handful of anonymous employees know the formula. The drink has inspired imitators and created a whole classification of soft drink: colas.
Coca-Cola has been sold outside the United States as early as 1900, when the Cuba Libre (a mix between Coca-Cola and rum) was created in Havana shortly after the Spanish-American War of 1898. However, the international reach of the product became mostly limited to North and Central America, the Caribbean, the Netherlands, Germany and parts of Asia until the 1940s, when the brand was introduced throughout South America and then Europe after the end of World War II.
The Advert on the Opposite Side, Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike was introduced as a brand of plug tobacco (chewing tobacco bound together with molasses) by an American firm R.A. Patterson in 1871 and evolved into a cigarette by the early 1900s. The brand style name was inspired by the gold rushes of the era and was intended to connote a top-quality blend.
In the late 1920s, the brand was sold as an avenue to thinness for women. One typical advertisement said, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet." Sales of Lucky Strikes increased by more than 300% during the first year of that advertising campaign, from 14 billion cigarettes in 1925 to 40 billion in 1930.
The Lucky Strike signature dark-green pack was changed to white in 1942 in a famous advertising campaign that used the slogan "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war." The company claimed the change was made because the copper used in the green coloring was needed for World War II, though, in reality, American Tobacco used chromium for the green ink and copper for the gold-colored trim. Supply of each was limited and the substitute materials made the packaging look drab, but attributing the package update to the war effort helped Lucky Strike appear more patriotic.
Lucky Strike was one of the brands included in the C-rations provided to American troops during World War II. Each C-ration of the time included nine cigarettes of varying brands, because military leaders believed tobacco was essential to the morale of soldiers. The other cigarette brands included in the C-rations were Camel, Chelsea, Chesterfield, Craven "A"-Brand, Old Gold, Philip Morris, Player's, Raleigh, and Wings.
The practice of including cigarettes in field rations continued through the Korean and Viet Nam Wars, ending in 1976 with the growing evidence that linked smoking to various health problems.