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hcaltli by «ttrlb«jt1nq health protective, and even health proawtinq, 

 QualHiM to partkular cigarette pr ands. ... For 60 j^ean. 

 cTqtrtttt prowo^*r< have useo health clalws to create an expectation 

 a»onq consuaers that snon^nq is reasonably safe, underwininq the 

 effect^veness of health warnings provided by other sources , 

 (emphasis added) In doing so, they have violated their legal and 

 ethical resDonslbHities. They have been selling death by promising 

 health." '^ 



The manufacture and strategy for proaotlon of 1o« tar and nicotine 

 cigarettes constitutes a major aspect of the industry's long-standing 

 prograa to convince the public that smoking can be safe. 



C. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW; A CHRONOIOSY O F CIGAREHE A DVERT I SIH6 AMD THE 

 DEV E LOPMEN T Or LOU TAfl. LOW HICO T IHE C I SAft TE nES 



Health claims have always appeared in cigarette advertisements. The 

 tobacco Industry has carried out a consistent campaign to quell public 

 fears about smoking. Efforts in earlier years to smooth over smokers' 

 health anxieties have evolved into the more recent marketing strategies 

 applied to low tar and nicotine cigarettes: 



"Since the late 1920s, cigarette promoters have used advertising to 

 create in the minds of consumers an expectation that it is 

 reasonably safe, if not outright salubrious, to smoke cigarettes. 

 As public alarm grew over the health hazards of smoking, the health 

 assurances made In these advertisements became increasingly brazen. 

 Cigarette ads Invoked doctors and medical science to convince people 

 that SMkIng a certain brand would not be harmful. After the 

 Federal Trade CoaHlssion banned the most egregious of these health 

 clain In 1955, cigarette promoters became more sophisticated in 

 their approach, utilizing references to filters designed by modern 

 technology to provide veiled assurance, a confusing numbers game of 

 tar and nicotine content levels, and lifestyle advertising to 

 associate smoking with good health and athletic achievement.* ^° 



I. Prior to the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health 



