Salem

Beginning in the late 1960’s, a new revolution became to hit America; the acceptance of female smokers. Salem cigarette brand cigarettes, name for the R.J. Reynolds city headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, were one of the best selling cigarette brands in the United States. Being the first filter-tipped menthol brand of cigarettes, the brand’s slogan was “You can take Salem out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of Salem”. One green labeled package of Salem was quickly followed by a Black label. The green label is typically marketed as a smoother cigarette to smoke while the black label is more strong-tasting. The green label was successfully geared toward the female smoker while; not wanting to exclude its largest segment of the market, the black label was enjoyed by male smokers. In the late 1990’s the “sliding” pack of cigarettes was introduced and Salem grabbed on with its black label cigarette line. While mostly marketed here in the United States, the Japanese market adopted a similar brand and called it “Salem Pianissimo”, which was to attract the healthier, cleaner smoker. Designed to reduce the smell of cigarette smoke, the Sale Pianissimo was regarded in society as a cleaner cigarette, holding a higher attribute for the smoker.