Lark (cigarette)

Lark

A pack of Japanese Lark Black Label cigarettes
Product type	Cigarette
Owner	Philip Morris (U.S. and Ecuador only) Altria (rest of the world)
Introduced	1963
Previous owners	Liggett & Myers

Lark is a brand of cigarettes introduced in 1963 by Liggett & Myers and notable for its charcoal filter and past advertising campaigns, among which was one featuring people on the street being asked to "Show us your Lark pack".

In 1963 Liggett & Myers introduced the Lark brand with its trademark charcoal filter in an effort to halt a five-year downward drift in sales. The distinguishing feature of the brand, both in terms of physical characteristics and taste was the 3-piece "Keith" filter (named for Dr. Charles H. Keith, "Supervisor of Physical Chemistry" for Liggett & Myers, who developed it)- the middle section of which contains small charcoal granules, which purportedly reduces the harshness of the cigarette's smoke.

Liggett & Myers underwent several corporate name changes over the ensuing years but kept the Lark brand in their product mix until 1998, when Liggett Vector Brands Inc. sold Lark, along with the L&M & Chesterfield brands, for $300 million to Philip Morris Companies Inc., later known as the Altria Group. (The sale involved only domestic rights; Philip Morris already owned the international rights to the three brands, which it had purchased in the late 1970s.) As of 2008, Lark continues to be manufactured and sold by Philip Morris USA, a subsidiary of Altria Group.

Since its introduction and despite several prominent advertising campaigns, Lark has never held a large share of the U.S. cigarette market. As of 2008^[update], the brand had less than 1% of the U.S. market share, but was extremely popular in Japan.

Lark is currently sold in the following packages:

The Lark Soft Pack contains the following ingredients (listed in descending order by weight) and tar and nicotine content:

Lark which is sold in Japan:

From its introduction in 1963, the brand came in a maroon-colored package with white print (the trademark shield was initially white but was soon changed to gold along with some of the other graphics). And for most of the brand’s life it has sported the motto “Richly Rewarding, yet Uncommonly Smooth.”

Although Philip Morris continues to promote the brand heavily in Japan, it receives little to no domestic advertising. This would explain why its share of the U.S. market has declined over the years since experts generally agree that cigarette brands usually lose market share when they are no longer promoted.