Lucky Strike 5 is a 1987 screen print created by pop artist Keith Haring. The work hails from the Lucky Strike series, created for an advertising campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes. Lucky Strike 5 is one among 8 other variations for the cigarette company as well as one additional print- a smoking skeleton- which, for obvious reasons, the brand thought wouldn’t sell. The artwork measures 39 inches by 28 inches and features Haring’s iconic style of bold lines, bright colors, and simple, energetically-charged characters.
The central element of the print is the famous Lucky Strike bullseye logo, rendered in a bold red color and slapped on a pack of smokes. A figure appears to be doing circus tricks over the carton which sits on a bright green, spotted ground. Haring’s career was defined not only by his unique style that translated from street graffiti to high-grossing Pop Art, but also his passion for political activism, for which he used his art as an extension to address social matters such as the drug addiction, apartheid, government and media, the AIDS crisis, and LBTQ+ issues. The artist popularly used codes in his work likened to the symbolic artistic language of hieroglyphics to create narrative works addressing these issues, but sometimes was thought to “Easter Egg” them in his less political commercial works. In Lucky Strike 5, there lies a potential suggestion of the ongoing AIDS crisis in the spotted pattern which was often a symbolic representation of the epidemic and a criticism of the superficial focuses of society during such a trying time.
The collaboration with Lucky Strike as well as his other advertiser crossovers offered a unique opportunity to subvert the corporate advertising machine from within and marked a departure from his previous collaborations with non-profit organizations and art institutions. It also sparked a debate within the art world about the ethics of artists working with corporate entities and posed a valuable discourse around the contradistinction of commercially critical artists acquiring renown and wealth from art made to criticize exactly that.
Despite its controversial subtext, Lucky Strike 5 is a visually exciting work of art that showcases Haring’s unique style and his ability to transform corporate logos and advertising imagery into vibrant works of art. In the context of Haring’s career, Lucky Strike 5 represents a moment of experimentation and risk-taking, as well as a commentary on the power of advertising and consumer culture. It also highlights Haring’s ability to engage with diverse audiences through his art, bridging the gap between the art world and the wider public.
See also: Lucky Strike 1, Lucky Strike 2, Lucky Strike 3, and Lucky Strike 4.
