Gunston
Product typeCigarette
OwnerBritish American Tobacco
Produced byBAT South Africa
CountrySouth Africa
Introduced1950s
MarketsSwitzerland, South Africa, Namibia[1][2][3]
Previous owners"Winston Tobacco Company"
Registered as a trademark in19 June 1973, expired 19 June 2004
Tagline"Men Rate Gunston Great"
Carcinogenicity: IARC group 1

Gunston is a South African brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the South African subsidiary of conglomerate British American Tobacco.[4]

History

Gunston was established in the 1950s by the Winston Tobacco Company in South Africa.[2] It enjoyed significant popularity in the South African market until its sales began to decrease, with consumers increasingly favoring other brands like Peter Stuyvesant and Marlboro.

On April 28, 1972, a trademark request for the phrase "Gunston cigarettes" was submitted and subsequently approved on June 19, 1973. This trademark remained valid until June 19, 2004.[5]

In December 1999, the Independent Online reported that Gunston, along with brands like John Player International, Camel Plain, and Gitanes, faced the possibility of being banned if the manufacturers did not reduce the tar content in these brands. Manufacturers were given a three-month window to comply with the new regulations, and they did so. These regulations were aligned with the 1999 recommendations from the World Health Organization, which set a maximum limit of 15 mg of tar and 1.5 mg of nicotine in cigarettes. It was also planned to further reduce these limits to 12 mg of tar and 1.2 mg of nicotine after two or three years.[6]

Advertising

Pack of Gunston with a text warning above

Various magazine and poster advertisements were made to advertise the brand. Some ads also included Team Gunston (a Formula One team owned by the Rhodesian racing driver John Love) and the "Gunston 500", a South African surf competition.[7][8] The slogan that was frequently used was "Men Rate Gunston Great".[9]

Some radio advertisements for Springbok Radio were also made.[10][11]

Sponsorships

Formula 1

Gunston provided sponsorship to Team Gunston from 1968 to 1975. This sponsorship marked an early instance of tobacco sponsorship in motor racing. They supported Rhodesian drivers John Love and Sam Tingle during the 1968 South African Championship for Formula 1 and Formula 5000 vehicles. Before their involvement in Formula 1 sponsorship, the team also participated in the non-championship event, the Rhodesian Grand Prix, which took place at the James McNeillie Circuit in Bulawayo.[12]

South African F2

Gunston sponsored Team Gunston in the South African F2.[13][14]

Kyalami 9 Hours

Gunston sponsored Team Gunston in the Kyalami 9 Hours (also known as the 1000 km of Kyalami).[15][16]

Surfing

Gunston served as the primary sponsor for the surfing championship previously known as the "Durban 500." However, once Gunston took on this sponsorship, the event's name was changed to the "Gunston 500" surfing championship.[17] This sponsorship came to an end when tobacco sponsorships were prohibited in South Africa in 1999.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BrandGunston - Cigarettes Pedia". www.cigarettespedia.com.
  2. 1 2 "Gunston". www.zigsam.at.
  3. ↑ "Brands". www.cigarety.by. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "British American Tobacco South Africa - Our brands". www.batsa.co.za.
  5. ↑ "Apply for a Trademark. Search a Trademark". trademarkia.com.
  6. ↑ "Top cigarette brands face tar ban - IOL News".
  7. ↑ "Team Gunston Racing / Winfield Racing". Pinterest.
  8. ↑ "When Ciggies Were (Supposedly) Great for Surfing. | Zigzag Magazine". Zigzag.co.za. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  9. ↑ lisahunter (27 April 2018). Surfing, Sex, Genders and Sexualities. Routledge. ISBN 9781351781381 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ SRPS AUDIO ARCHIVE JOHANNESBURG (19 April 2017). "GUNSTON CIGARETTES" – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ clifford Newton (2 November 2014). "Gunston cigarette" – via YouTube.
  12. ↑ "'SA was ahead of the curve' - 50 years of sponsorship in F1".
  13. ↑ "John Moni , Team Gunston March 842 Mazda , South African F2 / Formula Atlantic , Killarney , Cape Town 1985 - SA00055". 3 March 2012.
  14. ↑ "Ian Scheckter - Team Gunston March 832 - South African F2 / Atlantic / Sigma Series - Killarney , Cape Town 1984". 13 October 2010.
  15. ↑ others, The Zen Cart™ Team and. "Fly 051301 BMW M1 Team Gunston, limited edition of 380 worldwide [051301] - $99.99 : Electric Dreams, New and Vintage Slot Cars". www.electricdreams.com.
  16. ↑ "Slot Car Dreamer!!!". Pinterest.
  17. ↑ "Gunston 500". Encyclopedia of Surfing by Matt Warshaw. 10 May 2012.
  18. ↑ "The Epic Evolution of Gunston 500 to The Ballito Pro". ShowMe™ - Ballito.
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