Aug 27, 2008

Limited Edition Smokes

Smoking is limited in Buenos Aires, but not as much as it is in the US. All restaurants are non-smoking but most of them are allowed to have a smoking section for their customers, and most of them do have that space. The kind of arrangement I can live with.

I noticed that some of the big brands here are competing when it comes to the design of the packs. One of those big brands is Marlboro, the other is my favorite one, Parisiennes (black tobacco, way stronger than Camel, not available in the US).

Buenos Aires haven't seen the Marlboro 72's yet, but since long ago some brands do have packs of 10, 16 and 20 cigarettes. This year I found out that Marlboro has launched a "limited edition" of the 16 pack that is pretty cool. Here some more shots of the box, that I personally like more than the traditional one...

Front


Back


Parisiennes on the other hand has abandoned (hopefully, not forever) their traditional blue, red and white colors to go out with a limited edition in black and white, with pictures of Notre Dame, L'Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre. If you haven't guessed it by now, it is a brand that has always based their communication on its "French Flavor". When I went to France though, I find out it was not a popular brand there and that they are known as "Françaises", not Parisiennes.

In this case, the public chose the images for the Limited Edition. Some time ago, they launched a website called Parisiennes L'Expertise, where different designs were shown to the public and with each pack of smokes their customers got a card to vote. These were the selected three:



I have with me a pack of 10 with the image of L'Arc, so here is a better shot of the new packaging:



As soon as I can get my hands over some of the other, I will post them here. BTW, a pack of Marlboro (20) is less than 1,50 dollars down here...the good thing is that a visit to the doctor is also a third or less than what we pay in the US, so at least there is some balance there!

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