Mad Men sparks cigarette sales boom for Lucky Strike with 10 BILLION more packs sold last year compared to when series first aired

Sales of Lucky Strike cigarettes have soared since Don Draper and Roger Sterling started chain smoking the brand on the hit TV show Mad Men

The world bought some 33 billion packets of the iconic cigarettes last year, up from 23 billion packets in 2007, when the show first aired

Year-on-year, sales jumped 11 per cent, and parent company British American Tobacco is now selling the brand in 80 markets around the globe

The news has angered anti-smoking campaigners

Sales of Lucky Strike cigarettes have soared since Don Draper and Roger Sterling started chain smoking the brand on the hit TV show Mad Men, angering anti-smoking campaigners.

The world bought some 33 billion packs of the iconic cigarette last year, up from 23 billion packs in 2007, when the show first aired.



Year-on-year, sales jumped 11 per cent, and parent company British American Tobacco is now selling the brand in 80 markets around the globe.

Lucky Strike: Sales of Lucky Strike cigarettes have soared since Don Draper and Roger Sterling started chain smoking the brand on the hit TV show Mad Men, pictured

AMC's Mad Men tells the story of hard-drinking, chain smoking New York advertising executives in the 1960s and Lucky Strike features prominently as it is one of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's major clients.



The show has won a worldwide audience with fans expressing admiration for the character's stylish yet hedonistic lifestyles.

But Quit campaigners claim the show glorifies the habit and has led to the increase in Lucky Strike sales.



'It's long been suspected that many people start smoking because they consider it "cool," British Lung Foundation chief executive Dr Penny Woods told Purple Revolver .

'It is possible that programmes like Mad Men, where successful men in sharp suits chain smoke throughout the programme, are playing a part in maintaining that image.'

Bumper sales: Year-on-year, sales jumped 11 per cent, and parent company British American Tobacco is now selling Lucky Strike, pictured, in 80 markets around the globe

She said measures including banning smoking in bars and restaurants had been effective in reducing the number of younger smokers.



'It would be deeply distressing if the glamorization of smoking on TV was counteracting any of these achievements,' she said.



Lead character Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, is a chain smoker who invariably has a 'Lucky' in hand.



However, in recent episodes, he begins to feel guilty about marketing the cigarettes, as their health effects become more apparent.



One episode sees Don paying for an ad in the New York Times with an open letter entitled 'Why I'm quitting tobacco' after they lost their million dollar contract with Lucky Strike.

It's Toasted: Lucky Strike's legendary It's Toasted campaign, pictured, was prominent in Mad Men

Woods said plain packaging for cigarettes would be a good way to get around the association of particular brands with their use in popular culture.



'That instant brand recognition would soon die out if the cigarette packs people buy in real life look nothing like the packaging they see on the screen,' she said.



Lead character Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, is a chain smoker who invariably has a 'Lucky' in hand. However, in recent episodes he started to develop a guilty conscience about marketing the cigarettes.

