Belga (cigarette brand)

Belga cigarettes

Belga was a Belgian brand of cigarettes produced by British American Tobacco .

history

The brand was founded in 1923 by tobacco retailers Alphonse and François Vander Elst. After the end of World War I , Alphonse and François Vander Elst wanted to launch a brand that Belgians could be proud of. The new brand was named after the Belga currency at the time , which was exactly the price of a pack. In addition, the brand name was decorated in the colors of the Belgian tricolor to appeal to the patriotic feelings of the citizens. Belga soon became the most popular brand in Belgium. In 1941 , after the German occupation of Belgium in World War II , the brand was withdrawn from the market for a few years because of its patriotic character.

The brand was known for its iconic portrait of a lady in a yellow scarf and black hat with a yellow feather on a red background, designed by Leo Marfurt . The Antwerp-born Paula Colfs-Bollaert was the model for this design. Advertising posters always showed a woman smoking: The American illustrator Lawrence Sterne Stevens created the well-known poster with Netta Duchâteau as a flapper in 1930 .

In 1990 the woman's head was removed from the packs, but later reintroduced in a modified form in 2005 .

In 2004 the Tabacofina-Vander Elst cigarette factory in Merksem , Antwerp, closed its doors and relocated production to the Netherlands .

In June 2014, it was announced that the brand would be disappearing from shelves and being replaced by Lucky Strike .

The main market was Belgium . Other customers were Luxembourg , the Netherlands and Spain .

See also

• Cigarettes
• Tobacco industry

Web links

• https://www.cigreviews.com/show-brands/Belga
• https://blog.imagesmusicales.be/netta-the-most-beautiful-girl-in-the-world/
• https://www.matchonweb.be/fr_be/s/jumet/c/mes-boutiques/mon-bureau-de-tabacs/cigarettes.html
• https://www.travelpostersonline.com/vintage-cigarette-advertisement---belga-cigarettes-poster-5516-p.asp

Individual evidence

1. ↑ BrandBelga - Cigarettes Pedia. Retrieved May 30, 2019 . 
2. ↑ 1970s Lucite Advertising Sign for Belga Cigarettes Belgium. Retrieved May 30, 2019 . 
3. ^ Antwerp - Merksem - Miss Belga - Het sigarettenmeisje dat nooit rookte. November 16, 2016, accessed May 30, 2019 . 
4. ↑ (jir): Gedaan met Belga in Merksem. Retrieved May 30, 2019 (Flemish). 
5. ↑ UrbEx | Forgotten & Abandoned - Den Belga. January 30, 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2019 (American English). 
6. ↑ Brands. Retrieved May 30, 2019 .