In the late 1970s one of our IT support customers was a tobacco company. On visiting their site they always offered us free packets of cigarettes***. They were used to the offer being declined as smoking was already noticeably less popular than even a decade before.
It was widely reckoned by their staff that there were marketing plans for marijuana stored in a safe for the apparently inevitable day it would be legalised.
***In order to protect their main cigarette brands - they also registered similar brand names. The registration required them to offer these brands for sale. Each year they produced a limited run and stocked them in a few selected tobacconists. Hence freebies for people like ourselves.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
