The Zippo business, the lighter that appears in more than 2,000 movies

It appears in superhero movies like X-Men or Batman begins, in musicals like Hairspray and in iconic films like The Godfather, Pulp Fiction or Apocalypse Now. Even, if you look closely, it can be seen in the animated film WALL·E. In more than 2,000 productions, there is someone who takes it out of their pocket, opens it and releases the flame. It's a Zippo, the reusable and wind-resistant metal lighter that over the years has become one of the most recognizable icons of North American pop culture. But it's also a big business: headquartered in Pennsylvania, it has nearly a thousand employees, produces about 14 million lighters each year, and has annual revenues of nearly 400 million dollars.The company was born in 1932 and, since then, has already sold more than 650 million lighters. But how did such a small object become a true American symbol? How did it make a place for itself in Hollywood and in pockets around the world? The first spark

The story of all this begins in Bradford, a small town in Pennsylvania, in the early thirties. The businessman George G. Blaisdell lived there. One day he came across a scene that changed his life: a friend of his was struggling with a bulky, uncomfortable, and impractical lighter. The device had an obvious virtue: thanks to its protective chimney, the flame resisted the wind well. But it also had flaws: it had to be opened with two hands, it broke easily, and it had a rather rudimentary appearance.Blaisdell immediately saw that there was a business idea there. At the end of 1932, he redesigned that lighter and transformed it into a more elegant, robust, and easy-to-use object. He added a rectangular casing, a hinged lid, and a mechanism that allowed it to be opened with one hand, but he kept the system that protected the flame from the wind. The first Zippo was born. The new lighter began to be sold in 1933 for $1.95, accompanied by a promise that made it famous: the brand assured the customer that, if it didn't work, they would repair it for free. The impetus of the war

The definitive boost, however, did not reach the shop windows, but the front line. With the entry of the United States into World War II, in 1941, Zippo stopped manufacturing lighters for the civilian market and dedicated all production to the North American army. In those years, the company replaced brass with steel and began manufacturing the black-finished models that are collector's items today.The war did the rest. Millions of American soldiers took the Zippo to the battlefield and turned it, almost unintentionally, into an emblem of the United States. The lighter was small, robust, worked in adverse conditions, and moreover, had a recognizable appearance. For many soldiers, it was not just a useful object, but also a personal, almost intimate, item that accompanied them in the midst of chaos.When the war ended, in 1945, Zippo returned to the civilian market, but it was no longer just any brand. It had ceased to be a simple lighter to become an object loaded with narrative. From then on, the company knew how to exploit this aura with intelligence: it kept the original mechanism almost intact, reinforced the idea of durability with the forever guarantee, and began to invest in advertising and in getting it featured in movies.From Bradford to Hollywood

After the post-war period, Zippo turned the prestige gained on the front into a big business. During the fifties and sixties, the lighter became popular as an advertising medium, the company refined some details without touching its essence, and the brand began to make a place for itself in popular culture, from concerts to cinema and television. Meanwhile, the company remained in family hands even after the founder, George G. Blaisdell, died in 1978, and it continued to expand the business: in the nineties, it bought W.R. Case & Sons and inaugurated its own museum in Bradford. In the 21st century, it legally protected the shape of its lighter, diversified products, and in 2010 acquired Ronson, a historic competitor.