In a recent episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm,"
Larry David holds up a pack of cigarettes.
Specifically, Morley cigarettes.
Now, let's rewind back to 1960
and the Alfred Hitchcock classic "Psycho."
Take a look at the cigarettes
the psychiatrist is smoking
in the final scene of the film.
Look familiar?
Morleys have appeared in hundreds of TV shows and movies
throughout the last century,
in everything from "The Twilight Zone" to "Seinfeld."
And, to be clear,
Morleys are not a real cigarette brand.
So, what exactly is going on here?
Is this some deep, secret connected cinematic universe
that ties Norman Bates to George Costanza?
If you pay really close attention to shows and movies,
you'll start to notice many of the same objects
over and over again,
like this newspaper.
There are several fake brands
that cross over into other works,
including Acme, Oceanic Air, and Heisler Beer.
But one of the most reused brands is Morley.
Jonathan Kuntz: Morley cigarettes is the most
prominent brand of fictional cigarettes
that has been used for the past 60 years in films,
television shows, and video games.
Narrator: Jonathan Kuntz says they come from
a company in Sun Valley, California.
Kuntz: The Earl Hays Press is a 100-year-old prop house
that supplies fake-brand props to Hollywood.
And they are the main suppliers of Morley cigarettes.
Narrator: According to its website,
Earl Hays Press pretty much sells fake everything,
from chips and beer to magazines and license plates.
Morley's design is based on the most popular
real cigarette brand in the United States,
Marlboro, with its signature red and white packaging.
Commercial: Come to where the flavor is.
Come to Marlboro Country.
Narrator: Marlboros are often nicknamed Marleys,
hence the fake name Morley.
Earl Hays Press sells Morleys in a few different varieties,
including Morley Lights, as you can see here.
But to understand why Morley even exists in the first place,
we have to go back and take a look
at the love-hate relationship
between tobacco companies and Hollywood.
Granny: What's that?
Jed: Winston cigarettes.
Try one, Granny. They is first rate.
Narrator: In the 1950s,
you mostly had sponsors for TV and radio,
where the advertising agencies paid for
and produced the show.
The characters even used the same products.
And many of these early advertisers were,
you guessed it,
tobacco companies.
"I Love Lucy" was famously sponsored by Philip Morris,
so you would see brand integrations like this.
Lucy: Have you tried a Philip Morris lately?
Desi: You'll love 'em.
They're so smooth and mild, and they taste so good.
Narrator: Movies were also typically cross-promoted
with tobacco companies.
Here's Joan Crawford, for example,
smoking Chesterfield cigarettes in a poster
promoting her film "Flamingo Road."
If a show wasn't sponsored,
it would use a fake brand instead,
since it wasn't getting paid to show the real brand.
Enter Morley. This fake brand can be traced
all the way back to episodes of "Perry Mason"
and one of the most memorable horror movies of all time,
"Psycho,"
although the box shows an earlier white design
as opposed to the newer red and white version.
Kuntz: And I think this is what really started
the Morley cigarettes craze.
Narrator: Morleys popped up in TV shows
like "Naked City" and "The Twilight Zone,"
most famously "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,"
with William Shatner lighting up a Morley on a plane.
But Morleys weren't used as much
during the 1970s and 1980s.
Why?
For one, the 1970 Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act
banned cigarette ads from airing on television and radio.
This was part of a big push to stop smoking in TV shows.
And the appearance of cigarettes on TV
decreased in general around this time
by about 70%.
Tobacco companies turned to movies instead,
paying big bucks to have their cigarettes appear
in popular films throughout the '80s.
So there wasn't much of a need
for fake brands like Morley
in movies either.
But this all changed again in 1998
with what's known as the Master Settlement Agreement,
which banned tobacco advertising in both films and TV,
paving the way for the fake brand's triumphant return.
Kuntz: The real explosion of Morley cigarettes
in popularity in pop culture
comes at the end of the 1990s in "The X-Files."
Scully: Well, you'll be interested to know
that Morley Tobacco has subpoenaed
all of our files of the case.
Narrator: In the show, The Cigarette Smoking Man
is a villainous character played by William Davis.
He famously smoked Morleys.
And the fake tobacco company was actually incorporated
into the plot in the episode called "Brand X,"
something you couldn't do very easily with a real brand.
But more on that in a bit.
Following "The X-Files,"
Morley started showing up everywhere,
even in video games and music videos.
Kuntz: It has literally appeared in hundreds
of movies and television shows.
Narrator: Here's George smoking a pack in "Seinfeld."
And Chandler holding a pack in an episode of "Friends."
They're also found in "Justified"
and the 2019 "Breaking Bad" movie "El Camino."
Shows technically have the freedom
to show real brands these days for historical realism,
as long as it's not a paid ad.
Don Draper: Lucky Strikes is toasted.
Narrator: So, why would they opt
for a made-up brand from the '60s?
Well, real brands are a big risk.
Kuntz: There are several reasons why film and TV producers
would avoid using real brand names without permission.
There is a little bit of legal jeopardy
if your product is used to kill somebody
or is defamed in any way.
You might be subject to lawsuits.
Narrator: A study found that villains are the ones
who are typically depicted smoking in films and TV.
And brands likely do not want their image
associated with criminals.
Apple, for instance, reportedly
doesn't let villains use its products in movies.
Real products are typically covered up or disguised
when used in shows or movies.
In the 1930s and '40s, the brand letters
on cars in films were carefully removed.
Kuntz: Hollywood was quite careful
to keep brand names out of their films.
They didn't want to be associated
with any particular product line,
and they didn't want to offend the people
that were using a rival product.
Narrator: So these days,
Morleys are mainly used as the replacement brand,
an inside joke,
similar to those 555 phone numbers
and the Wilhelm scream.
[screams]
Kuntz: Morley cigarettes have become
almost like a meme on the web,
something where you can kind of wink your eye
at the audience and say,
you know, "We know that you know
that this really a movie or a television show,
and we're just kind of playing with things."
Narrator: And just as there's a risk
associated with smoking real cigarettes,
there's a risk with Morleys as well.
Kuntz: The problem with the popularity of Morley cigarettes
is that when you see it now
in a movie or in a television show,
it kind of pulls you out of the fiction.