Seven Stars (セブンスター) is a brand of cigarettes produced by Japan Tobacco.

History

Seven Stars was launched on February 1, 1969, as the first cigarette with a charcoal filter, and was created in response to customer demands for low-tar, menthol, and D-spec (low smoke smell) products. The brand uses domestically blended tobacco (mainly leaf tobacco), and is popular amongst all Japan Tobacco brands. From 1975 to 1977, it was the best-selling brand, and afterwards, was ranked 2nd in sales following the 1977 launch of Mild Seven. From the first quarter of 2008 until 2016, the Seven Stars brand returned to best-selling status. Various nicknames for Seven Stars cigarettes include and. Changes in the cigarettes' design have been made several times, but the 20-cigarette box has been largely unchanged since launch. 1993 saw a change in size to king size, some changes were made to the logo on the packs in 1999, and in early 2012, new inks and metallic finishes were applied to the packaging. Since the beginning of the 21st century, low-tar and menthol variants are also sold; the latter, introduced on August 3, 2009, originally used a special charcoal filter to prevent covering and adsorption of the menthol, but this was changed to a plain filter on April 14, 2014. The tar content of the medium and light variants was lowered to 10 and 7 mg in the middle of June 2015, with the tar content label being displayed more prominently on the packaging. Due to a tobacco tax increase on October 1, 2010, and consumption tax increase on April 1, 2014, the prices of all Seven Stars products were raised to 440 and 460 yen.

Marketing

A tree used on a Seven Stars package became a scenic spot representative of the hills of Biei, Hokkaido. In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, the brand was promoted by actors Etsushi Toyokawa, Tetta Sugimoto, and Shōei. From 2007 to 2011, music acts Boom Boom Satellites, The Lowbrows, and ripvanwinkle also participated in promoting the brand, including as part of magazine advertisements portraying them as "men who resonate with Seven Stars" (セブンスターと響きあう男たち).

Slogans

Seven Stars has used multiple different slogans, among them: Slogans for discontinued products include:

Markets

Seven Stars cigarettes are mainly sold in Japan, but also were or still are sold in Singapore, Austria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.

Sponsorship

Seven Stars sponsored the Honda works team in the Suzuka 8 Hours motorcycle race from 2003 to 2006, where the team ran two bikes. In 2004, riders Tohru Ukawa and Izutsu Yoshiyasu claimed victory. Another win followed in 2005 with Ukawa and Ryuichi Kiyonari. Honda-themed Seven Stars packs were sold at Suzuka Circuit during the race.

Products

Below are all the variants of Seven Stars cigarettes, with the levels of tar and nicotine included.