Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 09, 1990

Transcript:

Mr. Butts: C'mon, children, time to put out those lights... Children: Can we have a tobacco industry bedtime story? Mr. Butts: Well, maybe just one...okay, kids, that's it-lights out! Children: Aw, Uncle Butts! One more story about the old days! Pul-leeze! Mr. Butts: Well...okay, but this is the last one! Once upon a time, way back in the 1954, the American tobacco company set out to sell Lucky Strikes to women who had only recently started smoking in large numbers...market research revealed that women disliked the brand because the package, which used to be green clashed with their clothes! The solution? Popularize green as the fashion color of choice! Children: Wow...how? Mr. Butts: First, the director of a major society ball was given $25,000 to turn it into a "green ball"! Then, a "color fashion bureau was set up to herald the new green season! Fashion editors and interior decorators were enlisted, and even the cooperation of the French couture houses was secured! Before long, green was the color of American fashion! Hordes of women started bumming and smoking Lucky Strikes as an accessory! Children: And? And? Mr. Butts: ..And they all died happily ever after! Thousands of 'em! Children: Yeaaa! Tell it again! Tell it again!