Arena | 1911
"Wer sie kennt, willst Du wetten? Raucht nur 'Orient'-Zigaretten" ("Those who know them – want to bet? – smoke only 'Orient' cigarettes"). In German, the slogan rhymes: wetten with Zigaretten.
Arena cigarettes were made in Hamburg by Georgieff & Dimitroff, a firm about which little is known. The surnames, Bulgarian in origin, suit the fashion of the day: in early 20th-century Germany, the big success was the "Orient" cigarette, modeled on Egyptian cigarettes and made with tobaccos from the Ottoman Empire.
In this ad, published in 1911 in Die Hamburger Woche, an illustrated weekly from Hamburg, we can see a tin of 50 "Gold" cigarettes. The lid gives the price: 10 cigarettes for 50 pfennigs, or 5 pfennigs each. The magazine cost 15.
We have found no record of what became of Georgieff & Dimitroff or the Arena brand. If you know anything, please tell us.
It was during the First World War that cigarettes spread through every layer of German society. Today the risks of smoking are known, and tobacco advertising is banned in the country's press. From this Hamburg factory, all that remains is an illustrated tin and a rhyme.
Text in the ad
Wer sie kennt, willst Du wetten?
Raucht nur „Orient“-Zigaretten.
Dose: ARENA · 10 St. 50 Pf. · Orient · Georgieff & Dimitroff · Hamburg · 50 Cigarettes Gold
Translation:
Those who know them – want to bet? –
smoke only “Orient” cigarettes.
Tin: ARENA · 10 for 50 pf. · Orient · Georgieff & Dimitroff · Hamburg · 50 Gold cigarettes
- Brand
- Arena
- Year
- 1911
- Decade
- 1910s
- Country
- Germany
- Medium
- Magazine
- Themes
- Tobacco
- Original publication
- Die Hamburger Woche, 1911
