Cigarette Packaging Following the Candy Bar: Reduce the Quantity, Keep the Price Down

TOBACCO December 1994

The American Tobacco Company is test marketing a new brand of cigarettes, Special 10s, which come 10 to a pack instead of 20 (Bruce Horovitz, "American Tobacco Packs 10 for a Buck," USA Today, Nov. 22, 1994, p. B1). The cigarettes, now available in some parts of California and New York, cost only $1 per pack. Independent analysts say that the company is targeting the poor and unemployed, who often have little cash on hand. They also say the company is using the smaller packs to jumpstart falling revenues, a trend in the flailing tobacco industry. Another company is marketing the Uni-Cig, a single cigarette in a plastic tube retailing for 25 cents.