Gauloises
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Gauloises is a brand of cigarette of French manufacture that has achieved semi-iconic status. It is produced by the company Altadis.
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[edit] Cigarette
Traditional Gauloises were originally short, wide, unfiltered and made with dark tobaccos from Syria and Turkey which gave off a strong and distinctive smell. Some non-smokers compared this to burning tar or the smoke of what King James VI of Scotland (and I of England), in A Counterblast to Tobacco, called "that pit which is bottomless".
[edit] Brand history
In France, they say la langue gauloise[citation needed], mythologising the way in which the "Gauls" resisted Roman hegemony. Between the World Wars, the smoking of Gauloises in France was considered patriotic and an affiliation with French "heartland" values[citation needed]. The brand was associated with the cigarette-smoking poilu (a slang term for the French infantryman in the trenches) and the resistance fighters during the Vichy Regime. The brand was also linked to high-status and inspirational figure representing the worlds of art (e.g. Pablo Picasso) and the intellectual elite (e.g. Jean Paul Sartre)[citation needed]. George Orwell also mentions that he smokes the brand in Down and Out in Paris and London. This, together with the romantic associations of France, made Gauloises a popular brand among some writers and artists. The brand is also featured in the Roman Polanski film The Tenant and the Robert De Niro and Jean Reno film Ronin, where it is smoked by Jean Reno's character. In the book Smiley's People by John le Carre, Gauloises feature prominently as the brand of choice of Lithuanian dissident, Vladimir.
Smoking Gauloises was also promoted as a contribution to the national good: a proportion of the profits from sale of Gauloises flowed to the Regie Francais Tabacs, a semi-governmental corporation charged with both controlling the use of tobacco, especially by minors, and directing its profits towards socially beneficial causes. The designers of the traditional Gauloise packet reinforced national identity by selecting a peculiarly French shade of blue (like the blues used in the work of French artist Yves Klein); this blue contains little compromise with other primary colors[citation needed]. Vercingetorix appears in silhouette on the cover[citation needed].
[edit] Legal environment
The cigarette was manufactured by Seita but 1999 proved to be a landmark year. The legal difficulties crystallised when a French health insurance fund filed a 51.33 million franc lawsuit against four cigarette companies, including Seita, to cover the estimated and continuing costs of treating the illnesses linked to cigarette smoking. This was followed by an action filed by the family of a deceased heavy smoker and the French state health insurer, Caisse Primaire d'Assurance Maladie, claiming compensation for the cost of the deceased's medical treatment and for producing a dangerous and addictive product. Consequently, brand management was assigned to Altadis, with joint French and Spanish ownership, and this company continues manufacture and international distribution. This company is now facing legal action in its own right.
Following Ireland and New York state among others, Spain has introduced a ban of smoking in nearly all public places, which went into effect per January 1, 2006. In Spain, smoking is currently allowed only in special smoker's areas in bars.
In October 2006, the Prime Minister of France announced a similar public smoking ban to take effect in February, 2007; bars, cafés, and restaurants will have until January, 2008 to adapt to the ban.[1]
[edit] Recent developments
In mid 2003 the Gauloises brand was discontinued entirely in the USA. Remaining inventory carried through into early 2004. Company officials are on record as saying they have no plans to ever again sell Gauloises in the USA.
In September 2005, Altadis moved production from France to Spain citing reduced demand in France, a difficult legal environment and poor profit margins.
The nationwide smoking ban in France in 2007 makes the brand's slogan on the side of the packet "Liberté Toujours" (Freedom Always) slightly ironic, as prohibiting smoking is arguably a direct move against such a philosophy.
[edit] Trivia
Golliwog was a World War II British naval slang for a Gauloise cigarette, because the tobacco was nearly black in colour.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "France to ban smoking in public", BBC News, 8 October 2006. Retrieved on January 17, 2007.
- ^ Furst, Alan (2004) Dark Voyage, Random House, Random House, ISBN 1-4000-6018-4: "It was a Gauloise — what British seamen called a golliwog...".
