In more innocent times, tobacco advertising was pervasive and the debate over which nicotine product was best enjoyed on the beach was hotly contested. It was furiously debated on the internet media of its day - the CB radio, bathroom stalls, and Oui magazine editorials.
There were pluses and minuses.
Dipping:
Eye-watering taste and ample saliva makes for memorable kisses, ladies
Immediate nicotine high to smooth out your morning downers
Spit cup provides conversation piece for foxes
Wind has no impact on enjoyment
Accidental swallows while playing volleyball acts as appetite suppressant
Lip cancer - best cancer?
Smoking:
Looks elegant, particularly when paired with astrological sign pendant gold chain
Keeps away sand flies
Smoker's cough announces presence with authority to ladies
Sun combines with smoke to age women ten years in forty minutes - no more getting carded at bars
If she smokes, she pokes
Beach = giant ashtray
Can drink beer while smoking
It was a battle for hearts and minds.
Only people who lived through that time can recall the intensity of the beach nicotine debate. I was too young - I have to rely on oral histories.
The black community, huge beach goers and committed smokers in the dip vs. smoking debate, were suddenly put into play by an ample-thighed battering ram backed by a persuasive marketing campaign.
How popular and influential was Earl Campbell back in the late 70s?
So popular that he ALMOST CONVINCED BLACK PEOPLE TO DIP.
The ending of the commercial is particularly pleasing.
Not only the Skoal, brotha brand identification, but the fact that all athletes commercials from that time period are concluded by a hot girl walking across the screen while the athlete dutifully follows her, presumably to nail her against a Mello Yello vending machine. As a kid, every single Bob Hope College Football All-American show (which I watched with rapt attention as a child, for reason unknown) would end with the All-Americans following a lady off the stage after Bob had introduced each with witticisms such as:
"Hugh Green. DL. Pittsburgh. Hugh is so fast, coaches time him with a radar gun."
Awkward silence.
"A radar gun!"
More awkward silence. Laugh track.
(Hot chick saunters by in evening wear)
Hinted strongly that All-Americans gang bang her off-camera.