The commercialization of Christmas has largely lost its shock value.
But without a little historical context, holiday advertising from the past can be as jolting as a blast of Arctic air.
Or, in this case, maybe a face full of tobacco smoke.
1951 Camel commercial
At first glance, the paused video of a 1951 animated television commercial featuring a jovial-looking Santa Claus looks inauspicious enough.
Until you hit play, and the jolly elf begins to sing as he strolls in front of a decorated tree while carrying ... a container of cigarettes.
"Oh, cartons of Camels are sure to please, besides they look so handsome under Christmas trees," old St. Nick offers in his deep baritone. "So easy to give, so good to get, give Camels, the nation's favorite cigarette."
Santa stops and opens the box to reveal two rows of five packs, whose Camel labels form a perfectly aligned caravan.
1950s Camel commercial
"Ho-ho-ho," he bellows. "It's gift-packed and ready to give, with a space for your greeting."
Winston-Salem-based R.J. Reynolds, creator of the Camel brand, was not the only tobacco company to roll a Christmas theme into its marketing, said Alan Blum, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society at the University of Alabama.
1955 Lucky Strike commercial
"In the 1940s, '50s and '60s, that was a legitimate strategy," explained Blum, professor and endowed chair in family medicine at Alabama who has spent decades studying the marketing strategies of tobacco companies. "It sounds sacrilegious, but not really because Christmas already had become so commercialized."
1964 Viceroy commercial
Christmas wasn't the only occasion Reynolds and competitors like Philip Morris drew on to sell their products.
Advertisements encouraged customers to buy cartons of smokes as birthday, Valentine's or Father's Day gifts.
"It wasn't unusual to give cigarettes as graduation presents," he added.
But at Christmas, "even Santa got into the act."
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