At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Western countries forced the Qing government to sign many unequal treaties, including various preferential policies for certain enterprises of foreigners. The tobacco industry has always been a popular industry, under the control of the state. At that time, the domestic industry was still in the primitive stage, and there was no advantage over foreign enterprises, and natural competition could not compete with it.
The five popular cigarette brands in the last world are basically developed by foreigners, and I believe that many old smoking guns know. But there are only two that exist today, and the others have been eliminated, so what happened?
Smoking during the Republic of China period
Since ancient times, people have smoked this habit, it is difficult to avoid, and now even if smoking is harmful, there are still people who buy it. During the Republic of China period, the atmosphere of smoking was very popular, and the upper class was an "old smoking gun" at every turn, not only men smoking, but also quite a lot of women. Zhang Xueliang and his wife Miss Zhao Si have a strong smoking age, reaching tens of thousands of dollars almost every month.
In terms of smoking, whether it is at home or abroad, everyone has this habit. The smoking mountains have a road to smoke as a path, and the wine sea is endlessly vomited as a boat, which is an accurate description of people. The five major brands of tobacco that were popular on the market during that period were the Big Front Gate, Hard Gate, Fairy Brand, Three Batteries and Old Knife Brand. At present, the first two can still be seen in the market, and the latter three have been eliminated by the market.
For an enterprise, in order to survive for a hundred years, it must be highly recognized by the public. If you just want to target some special groups, this kind of enterprise basically does not live long. From a merchant's point of view, it is impossible to put all the eggs in one basket, such as the "surviving" large front door and the Hardmen gate, which belong to this type.
Luckily survived brand-name cigarettes
The large front door is taken from the zhengyang gate, a landmark in old Beijing, and with this means to evoke the resonance of the Chinese people. Thanks to the preferential tax avoidance policy, there are many small factories, which naturally earn a lot. Many people buy cigarettes, they all like the brand, which has a great influence in China. After the founding of New China, out of the need to restore the market economy, many brands were eliminated, but daqianmen survived. But it is naturally unlikely that a family will be as big as in the past.
Compared with the seniority of the big front door, Hardmen is more famous, mainly because he is willing to spend money on "advertising" in the early stage. This kind of marketing method is still worth learning from today, depending on whether you are willing to do it. At the time of Hardmen's "birth", in order to kill a bloody road among many cigarette brands, Hardmen invested a lot of advertising money. Carry out "desperate publicity", under the strong capital operation, it soon became a popular brand, and once reached the point where no one knew.
Many people like to smoke this kind of cigarette, the reason is the "appearance" in the picture, looking at the brand variety, even if they don't smoke much, it is still quite eye-catching. The designer closely puts it closely with Chinese culture, with famous historical figures or popular opera characters, and the painting technique is very exquisite, which is a beautiful poster. To some extent, it is not only used for smoking, but also has a strong collection value.
Relying on this marketing method, Hardman's sales soared, and it was on fire for more than 40 years. Other brands have followed suit and still haven't taken its place. After the founding of New China, the production was discontinued for a period of time, and the reason was colonialist. In 1992, a state-owned factory in Qingdao began to use Hademen again, which was a "resurrection".
Not too many audiences
The name Fairy Brand Cigarette Is Obviously Aimed at not the public, but at female friends. Middle-aged or young women who smoke will choose the fairy brand, whether it is the taste, or the appearance, it is very popular with the majority of women. Some people commented that it was very smooth, and at that time, people blindly worshiped the West, believing that this kind of product was better than domestic products, and there was naturally no shortage of market.
In addition, most of the smokers are rich wives of high society, so they naturally sell at high prices. Some people even use it as a status symbol, otherwise it seems too depressed. People often say that Han Xincheng is also Xiao He, defeat is also Xiao He, and the fairy card finally loses the market, mainly because women don't like it.
At that time, many prostitutes smoked this kind of cigarette, and over time they became representatives of vulgarity and were despised by the public. High-class relatives felt that smoking this kind of cigarette was very humiliating, so they cut off buying it. Also for health reasons, people gradually realize that smoking is harmful to people's health, especially affecting women's fertility. Due to the need for prosthetic heirs, the natural market rate is reduced. There are also foreign forces in China gradually weakening, and fairy brand cigarettes are gradually being abandoned.
The three forts were also discontinued for this reason, and in the past there were large forts and two forts, drawing on Liu Guanzhang's meaning. Take a look at the outside of the three gun emplacement cigarette signs, and there are three British battles, which meet the needs of people who are sought after heroes. Most of the people who like it are some senior officers of the Kuomintang, and they can afford to spend. With the defeat of the Kuomintang army, no one bought it, and naturally it was lonely.
Give yourself a "do no" cigarette
If the above two cigarettes were extinguished because of the gradual decline of the audience restrictions, then the old knife card is completely self-inflicted. It's a bit like today's fashion brands, where a company has to touch China's interests. After the end of the Opium War, many British american tobacco companies decided to enter China, and the old knife brand was born, which was mainly concentrated in the coastal areas of Guangdong at that time.
The old knife card was originally in English, which translates to pirate, using China as the object of random robbery. At the beginning, I did make a lot of money, mainly due to the relatively low tax payment and the cheap labor in the Chinese market. At that time, the middle and lower classes of society basically smoked this kind of cigarette and did not understand the meaning of the above.
The real meaning of the name is that the foreigner holds the knife in his hand, which is ironic Chinese. With the rise of the new cultural movement, many patriotic intellectuals actively propagated new ideas, emphasizing what the old knife brand means, and the people realized the pirate ideology behind the old knife brand cigarettes and were naturally reluctant to buy them.
Later, the company carried out reforms, gradually removing colonial ideas, weakening the cultural characteristics of pirates, and trying to increase sales rates. In the late Qing Dynasty, the old knife brand gradually expanded to the Chinese mainland, and was no longer limited to Guangzhou. After the founding of New China, the old knife brand was naturally resisted because of its colonialist tendencies, and although it tried to reform and wanted to continue, it was difficult to escape the fate of suspension of production.
brief summary
Looking at the fate of these brands of cigarettes, it is not a reflection of the history of the survival of foreign famous brands in China. In the past, relying on unequal treaties, China earned a lot of money, and what was earned was the hard-earned money of the people. With the founding of New China, it is naturally impossible to want to do whatever it wants in the past. Rather than being resisted by Chinese, it is better to be eliminated by history, which is a law of development.
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