All-In-One Cigarette Lighter FOR KIDS!

H. And S. Sales Co. truly stepped into it when they ran this ad in comic books during the 50s, and these were comic books intended for children. The ad is for their All-In-One Cigarette Lighter and Full-Pack Case that comes with personalized engraving in 23 karat gold, supposedly because they were out of 24 karat gold at the time, and for $1.98 isn't it a bad deal considering it would be about $28 today. The problem is a good portion of the comics this ad was shown in were meant for kids, and each ad had its own separate message letting readers know that it was an introductory offer for that particular issue. Some of the comics for the lighter were adventure comics for more mature kids like Western Fighters, Space Detective, and Rulah: Jungle Goddess. The fork in the road is the ads they had done for comics that were specifically aimed at toddlers, mostly from Ziff-Davis Publishing with kid-friendly titles like The Teenie-Weenies. What really kills it is that the little comic strip on the side showing that women will practically fall into the lap of any suave fellow with a lighter and unbent cigarettes, and again this was in a kid's comic! This ad would be fine for comics like Crime And Punishment, but to shove it on the back cover of a comic that you might see on the same spinner rack as fairy tale and funny animal comics is a new level of pure evil.

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