Vantage is an American brand of

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

s, currently owned and manufactured by the

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) is an American tobacco manufacturing company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and headquartered at the RJR Plaza Building. Founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1875, it is the second-largest tobacco compan ...

History

Vantage was introduced nationwide in November 1970 in the United States. Vantage is notable for its innovative filter design. Rather than featuring a solid filter like most cigarette brands, Vantage's filter features a conical hole in its center. While seemingly as mysterious as

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

's recessed filter, Vantage advertising from 1977 states that the reasoning behind the design is to give "smokers the flavor of a full-flavor cigarette without anywhere near the 'tar' or nicotine". It received its biggest advertising push in the 1970s and '80s but is now categorized as a 'non-support' brand; though R.J. Reynolds will not provide marketing support for Vantage, the company will maintain the brand's distribution where there is consumer demand. In September 2015, the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

forbade the selling of 4 brands: Camel Bold Crush, Vantage Tech 13 and the regular and menthol versions of Pall Mall Deep Set Recessed Filter cigarettes because R.J. Reynolds had failed to prove that the cigarettes were no more dangerous than brands that have been on the market longer.

Advertising

R.J. Reynolds has made various poster and magazine ads to promote Vantage in the 1970s and 1980s. A prominent slogan used at the time was ''"The new cigarette that doesn't cop out on flavor"''. A few TV adverts were also made to promote the brand during the early 1970s.

Sponsorship

Contests

Vantage was the main sponsor of the ''"Women of Originality"'' contest held in Canada in 1998 and 1999. Women such as the singer-songwriter

Jann Arden Jann Arden (born Jann Arden Anne Richards; March 27, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She is famous for her signature ballads, "Could I Be Your Girl" and "Insensitive (song), Insensitive", which is her biggest hit to date. Ea ...

, fashion entertainer

Jeanne Beker Jeanne Beker, (; born 19 March 1952) is a Canadian television personality, fashion editor, and author. Family Jeanne Beker was born in Toronto, Ontario to father Joseph Beker and mother Bronia Beker, two Jewish Holocaust survivors born in Koz ...

, figure skating choreographer

Sandra Bezic Sandra Marie Bezic (born April 6, 1956) is a Canadian pair skater, figure skating choreographer, and television commentator. With her brother Val Bezic, she won the Canadian Figure Skating Championships from 1970 to 1974 and placed ninth at the ...

and comedian Mary Walsh participated and won a ''"Vantage Women of Originality Award"'' on 7 May 1998. A second round was scheduled for June 1999.

In popular culture

Films

The final punch line of the film

Reversal of Fortune ''Reversal of Fortune'' is a 1990 American drama film adapted from the 1985 book ''Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case'', written by law professor Alan Dershowitz. It recounts the true story of the unexplained coma of socialite Sunny ...

comes as

Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...

Klaus von Bulow Klaus is a German, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas. Notable persons whose family name is Klaus * Billy Klaus (1928–2006), American base ...

purchases ''"two packs Vantage"'' at a drug store.

Novels

Vantage is featured as the heroine's cigarette of choice in

Lorrie Moore Lorrie Moore (born Marie Lorena Moore; January 13, 1957) is an American writer. Biography Marie Lorena Moore was born in Glens Falls, New York, and nicknamed "Lorrie" by her parents. She attended St. Lawrence University. At 19, she won ''Seve ...

's short story "Willing" in her collection Birds of America and is seen being stubbed out by a minor character in

Donna Tartt Donna Louise Tartt (born December 23, 1963) is an American novelist and essayist. Early life Tartt was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta, the elder of two daughters. She was raised in the nearby town of Grenada. Her fa ...

's bestselling

The Secret History ''The Secret History'' is the first novel by the American author Donna Tartt, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 1992. Set in New England, the campus novel tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics students at Hampden Colle ...

. In chapter 103 of Forever by Pete Hamill, Cormac O'Connor purchases a pack of Vantage, ending nine days of not smoking.

Markets

Vantage is mainly sold in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but also was or still is sold in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

References

{{Reynolds American R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company brands