Firm Blows Some Smoke in Malibu’s Face
Malibu is a name synonymous with sun, surf and stars. But if a major cigarette company has its way, some of the community’s prominent residents complain, the image may soon go up in smoke.
Playing on the seaside area’s outdoor image, the American Tobacco Co. recently released Malibu--the cigarette. The firm also has launched a national advertising campaign suggesting that the riches of Malibu can be had for the price of a pack of filtered-tipped 100s.
Local residents are fuming over the latest Malibu product, currently displayed on billboards and the back covers of several national magazines. The ads picture a young couple frolicking on the beach, enjoying the waves, and presumably in this case, a good smoke.
“I just can’t believe it,” said an incredulous Larry Hagman, the actor who has served as the honorary mayor of Malibu. “I hate it. My hair stood on end when I saw it. It’s incredible.”
Hagman, who plays J. R. Ewing on TV’s “Dallas,” lives on the beach in the exclusive Malibu Colony, but his interest in the ads runs beyond that. For the last seven years, he has been chairman of the national Great American Smokeout campaign.
“Can you imagine people running along the beach, enjoying the sun and the clean air, and smoking a cigarette?” asked Hagman, who carries portable fans to restaurants to blow fumes back into smokers’ faces. “I don’t equate cigarettes with the sun and the ocean and I doubt that other people do. The whole thing is awful. It makes me very, very angry. But it’s typical of the tobacco industry.”
With the anti-smoking tide sweeping the country and new no-smoking regulations being passed in municipalities throughout Los Angeles County, introduction of the cigarette arrives at a time of considerable conflict. However, tobacco company officials say that response to Malibu has been “excellent,” although they refuse to release sales or market research figures.
The tobacco firm knows that to people in chilly locales such as Maine, there is little damage done to the Malibu name by the various problems that plague the community, such as landslides, storms and mountain canyon brush fires that can make living there exceedingly unglamorous and often dangerous.
Indeed, as local residents also know, the name Malibu is magic to the advertising industry’s ears, ranking right up there with “new and improved.”
Currently, there are about 40 products bearing the Malibu moniker, ranging from pontoon boats to pen and pencil sets. There is a line of Malibu lingerie and a Malibu water bed mattress. The Mattel Toy Co.’s Malibu doll is still around, but Chevrolet is no longer making its Malibu model.
The Malibu brew never quenched the thirst of the beer-buying public, but a Malibu rum still is sold, as is the Malibu airplane, the Malibu bicycle and the Malibu motor home.
“In Malibu, the emphasis has always been on health and clean air,” said Madelyn Glickfeld, a longtime resident and a California coastal commissioner. “But obviously, the marketing shows that a lot of people will buy products with the name Malibu.
“People crave what Malibu is supposed to be--a glamorous place by the ocean, with lots of sun. But that’s not really representative of what Malibu is. I often wish Malibu could live up to its reputation. In a lot of ways, because of the way it’s been developed, it’s a ticky-tacky town.”
Daniel Conforti, spokesman for American Brands Inc., parent company of American Tobacco, said the cigarettes went into limited distribution in December, 1986, in Vermont and New Hampshire. The test-market results prompted the Greenwich, Conn., firm to begin distributing Malibu cigarettes on a national basis last September, he said.
“Our research among smokers rated Malibu very high,” Conforti said. “It’s our policy not to release unit of sales figures, but I think you can safely assume that we wouldn’t have distributed it on a national basis with a major advertising campaign unless our research showed that the market was there.”
Leon Cooper, president of the Malibu Township Council, a civic organization representing more than 1,000 families, called the ad campaign “tragic and misleading,” saying it has little connection to the real Malibu or the reality of smoking.
“I’m not a great moralist, but I have trouble with the feverish imaginations of advertising people when they insist on selling products that can kill people by using images that conjure up sex, romance and money. It’s the worst kind of advertising. The whole thing leaves me cold.”
The American Tobacco Co. is one of the country’s largest producers of tobacco products, manufacturing 49 brands of cigarettes, rolling papers and chewing tobacco. Malibu joins a line of cigarettes that includes Lucky Strike, Pall Mall and Miner’s & Puddlers.
Considering how many products carrying the Malibu name already were available, some local residents made light of the new cigarette, saying that it was only a matter of time before the tobacco industry rolled out its version.
“I guess I’m just too cynical to take it seriously,” said actress Ali McGraw, one of Malibu’s many celebrity residents. “Frankly, I’m amazed that it’s taken this long. Malibu has always been a catchword for a wonderful way of life, so it’s ironic that they’re selling cigarettes, since they represent just the opposite of a healthy place to live.”
Conforti declined to comment on the community’s reaction, noting that his main concern is with competition from other tobacco makers. The New York advertising firm of Lawrence, Charles, Free & Lawson handled the campaign, but officials there wouldn’t discuss it.
“We’ve owned the (trademark) name Malibu for several years,” Conforti said. “Obviously, it evokes quite a positive response, otherwise we wouldn’t have used it.”
