L&M's Foray into Marketing “Natural” Cigarettes

Abstract

This ad watch details new L&M cigarette marketing in the United States that now features the terms “simple” and “tobacco and water”, while continuing to highlight its affordable and premium qualities. This implicitly positions L&M as an affordable natural brand, which is new for the brand. From a public health standpoint, this warrants attention and raises concern because of the commercial success of brands positioned as “natural”, the well-documented misperceptions of “natural” tobacco as presenting fewer health risks, and the potential to attract vulnerable populations who are both cost and health conscious.

The cigarette brand L&M appears to be piloting new marketing in the United States that notably changes its packaging and point-of-sale (POS) advertising. A key transformation is L&M’s implicit positioning as an affordable yet premium natural brand, with an emphasis on cigarette composition. The new L&M packs have been spotted among Reddit users in multiple U.S. regions as early as February 2022.[1,2]

The new tagline on L&M packs is “Simple tobacco”,[1] with POS ads heralding “Simple ingredients” (Figures 1, 2). Packs and POS ads also specify, “Tobacco Ingredients: Tobacco & Water”, connoting a simple, natural composition. The pack design features a single leaf in blue, yellow, orange or green, evoking nature themes with tones reminiscent of water, sun, nature and earth. The new terminology and visuals are distinct from traditional L&M packs featuring block colors with the L&M logo (Figure 2), which as of December 2022 are still featured on the brand’s website, suggesting the new design is not yet fully launched.

Figure 1: L&M Pilot Cigarette Packaging.

Image sources: https://www.andronicos.com/shop/product-details.970304349.html, https://www.shaws.com/shop/product-details.970304323.html

This image depicts L&M’s pilot packs in orange and yellow. The pack fronts state “SIMPLE TOBACCO”, with respective descriptors of “SMOOTH MELLOW TASTE and “SMOOTH RICH TASTE”. The pack backs state, “Enjoy premium tobaccos packed tightly for slow, long-lasting flavor. It only tastes expensive. TOBACCO INGREDIENTS: TOBACCO & WATER”. For additional images of the pilot L&M packs, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cigarettes/comments/t83mr3/lm_simple_tobacco_review_nys_999_i_tried_the/

Figure 2: L&M Pilot Point-of-Sale Advertising.

Image credit: Ollie Ganz

This image depicts L&M’s pilot point-of-sale marketing and packs, alongside other brands (including Natural American Spirit) as well as traditional L&M packs. The pilot marketing advertises “SIMPLE INGREDIENTS THAT ONLY TASTE EXPENSIVE” and “Tobacco Ingredients: Tobacco and Water”.

For additional images of L&M’s traditional packs, see: https://www.lm.com

For additional images of L&M’s pilot point-of-sale marketing, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cigarettes/comments/sd0of4/new_lm_simple_tobacco_now_product_testing_in_vt/

L&M’s new marketing is consistent with the brand’s positioning as a premium yet affordable product, maintaining a previous tagline that it “only tastes expensive”.[3] Yet the emphasis on affordability of a simple product made of just “tobacco & water” is new for L&M. Indeed, L&M advertising from recent years has featured tips on how to “live a richer life for less” (e.g., staycations) and imagery of everyday pleasures like coffee.[4] However, the use of nature/fauna imagery and references to simple ingredients, as found on the new packaging and advertising, are new themes for L&M.

The brand’s evolution is significant for multiple reasons. First, its emphasis on “simple” composition harkens to other brands’ “natural” claims, which are linked to misperceptions about reduced health risks and product intentions and use.[5-10] Most notably, Natural American Spirit (NAS), historically marketed as “natural”/“additive-free” and with associated visual imagery,[11-13] is often misperceived by its smokers as less harmful.[14] While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken some steps to regulate the term “natural” in cigarette marketing, its use is subject to little regulatory constraint as a whole (e.g., a 2017 agreement with NAS’s manufacturer barred “natural”/“additive-free” terms from NAS marketing but permitted the company to retain “natural” in its brand name)[15]. In fact, recent NAS marketing prominently employs other suggestive terms now featured by L&M, including “simple”, “smooth”[16-18] and “Tobacco Ingredients: Tobacco & Water”.[19, 20] This latter phrase remained allowable under the 2017 agreement, essentially replacing the synonymous “additive-free” claim in NAS post-agreement marketing.

Second, L&M’s move is significant because of recent commercial success of brands using “natural” marketing, as well as success of discount brands. Between 2014 and 2019, market share decreased for most cigarette brands but increased for three discount brands, including L&M, as well as premium brands NAS and Winston,[21] both of which have historically used implicit or explicit claims of naturalness (Winston has previously used claims including “additive-free” and “naturally smooth”, and more recently “tobacco and water”). By exploring repositioning L&M as an affordable and “natural” brand, L&M may seek to maximize both types of market growth trends. L&M’s new positioning raises the potential to attract people from price-sensitive populations including those of lower socioeconomic status and youth/young adults, the latter of whom are especially attracted to “natural” products.[20, 21] L&M is already most popular with individuals under 50 who smoke daily and are often more nicotine dependent and price sensitive.[21]

The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control banned use of “light”, “low”, and “mild” descriptors from tobacco marketing, given their effect on lowering harm perceptions and intention to quit.[22, 23] Similarly, cigarette brands marketed using “natural” themes could potentially reduce or delay motivations to quit. L&M’s new marketing approach, particularly if implemented nationally, may attract a vulnerable segment of consumers who are health- and cost-conscious by offsetting two important motivators for cessation– price and health concerns. L&M’s growing popularity and evolving marketing tactics point to a need for continued study of the brand and other brands that may be following suit. For example, during the publication process of this Ad Watch, we identified new pack designs for Basic, another value brand, using colors similar to the new L&M packs and to NAS (e.g., sky blue, yellow, orange) and employing the phrase “simple tobacco”.[24]

More broadly, these trends highlight a potential need for additional regulatory action to address misleading tobacco marketing. For example, FDA can send warning letters to companies using unauthorized claims that suggest reduced risks (as it has done previously), directing companies to submit “modified risk tobacco product” applications or discontinue use of those claims. Implementation of stalled and challenged regulations (i.e., large graphic warning labels on packs/ads) or more sweeping measures like mandatory plain packaging may also be helpful in disrupting the effects of persistently misleading advertising.[25]