Coffee & Cigarettes Combo Packs Give You Twice The Vice
Coffee & cigarettes: It may not be the Breakfast Of Champions but for all too many it’s the breakfast of convenience. So common is this nutritionist’s nightmare its a wonder the two haven’t been packaged together and sold as a set. Well wonder no more: the “killer combo” has been offered in Japan for some time now.The set pictured at this article’s lead features a can of Georgia Black coffee (quite tasty, as Japanese canned coffees go) along with two packs of Marlboro Ice Mint menthol cigarettes for 640 yen, or about $6.85… you gotta love the “AM/PM” logo.
The marketing mash-up isn’t designed to benefit consumers, though smokers’ bloodshot eyes will surely light up at sight of these combination sets on store shelves. The concept actually allows cigarette marketers a way to attract buyers both old and new – they can’t offer direct discounts because Japanese retail law forbids it.
The set above offers a can of Georgia Black coffee with a package of Marlboro Wides for just 330 yen (about $3.50), but the promotional text stresses the fact that the coffee comes “free” with the purchase of the cigarettes. A bit of pricing sleight-of-hand, obviously, but a way to get around the retailing law – plus Georgia (owned by Coca-Cola, btw) gets exposure to smokers who might not normally seek out their coffee.
This combo set was featured at Japan’s ubiquitous 7-11 convenience stores so consider it an advertising 3-way of sorts.