Vintage Advertising

Advertising cards from the L. Verblocki tobacco factory, dating back to the interwar years. The Lost Shtetl Museum collection.

What do you think these charming animals are advertising? A visit to the zoo, perhaps? Or illustrations for an animal-themed magazine? In fact, they were promoting the L. Verblocki tobacco factory.

Founded in the mid-19th century in Klaipėda, the factory eventually became the largest tobacco manufacturer in the region. Owned by the Jewish Verblovski family, it offered a wide range of products, including hand-rolled cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and cigarillos. The factory’s success is evident in its 1937 profit of 57,500 litas.

But what fueled this success? Creative, and by today’s standards, unconventional advertising strategies.

At that time, tobacco packaging carried no health warnings. Instead, consumers were enticed by beautiful illustrations and even practical tips on how smoking could enhance daily life. “If you want your family to hurry, give them an L. Verblocki ‘Wolf’ cigarette, and work will go like a breeze,” claimed the factory's advertisements. Since the harmful effects of smoking weren’t definitively proven until the mid-20th century, such promotional tactics were common in the interwar period.