256 



12 - 



The to6«cco Industry responded to the public's fears about smoking 

 decades ago through advertising. There are numerous examples of health 

 claims In cigarette advertisements In the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s: 



"In 1927 the American Tobacco Company began a new advertising 

 campaign for the nation's leading cigarette brand. Lucky Strike, by 

 claiming that 11,105 physicians endorsed Luckles as 'less irritating 

 to sensitive or tender throats than any other cigarettes." ^^ 



"The first advertisement carried by the New York State Journal of 

 Medicine for a filter cigarette was for Viceroy (July 15, 1939): 

 '*T LAST ... a cigarette that filters each puff clean! '('Nc; more 

 tobacco 1n mouth or teeth')" " 



Brown & Williamson promoted Old Gold "with the slogan 'not a cough 

 in a carload' in the 1930s and 1940s." " 



"In the early 1940s, Lucky Strikes began promising that, in addition 

 to removing 'certain harsh throat Irritants found In all tobacco," 

 Lucky Strikes also had 12 percent less nicotine than the average of 

 the other four leading brands. Although these ads did not 

 themselves explain why smokers would want to avoid ingesting 

 nicotine, by 1940 there was a popular perception linking nicotine 

 with heart disease. (As early as 1928, 'No Harm Cigars' used 

 advertising to claim that they were safer than cigarettes because 

 they did not contain nicotine, which the ad stated causes heart 

 trouble.)" 24 



In the early 19S0s, several major studies were published that left little 

 doubt about cigarette smoking being the primary factor in the growing 

 epidemic of lung cancer In men. In 1954, the International Cancer 

 Congress first associated smoking with lung cancer. 



Kent cigtrtttts were Introduced In 1952 with a massive print and 

 television advertising campaign. The ads stated that "one out of three 

 smokers were 'unduly sensitive to the nicotine and tars in tobacco. They 

 really need real health protection.'" 2* "The Kent micronlte filter was 

 promised to provide 'the greatest health protection in cigarette history' 



