Clark Gable, Spencer Tracey, Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Bette Davis, Betty Grable and Al Jolson were stars of the golden era of film in days gone by. They used to actually get paid to endorse smoking on screen, with tobacco companies paying them up to $75,000 in today's value.
Actors, actresses and singers were put on contracts and they were sometimes paid millions of dollars in endorsements for Lucky Strike, Old Gold, Chesterfield and Camel cigarette brands. Though it was known at that time that cigarettes were harmful to health they still did it willingly.
From the 1930's to the 1940's nearly two thirds of the top 50 Hollywood actors took part in cigarette endorsements and nearly 200 other performers.
Today, though, smoking is rarely shown on film, smoking on-screen is still seen as the cause of teen smoking. However, in the United States nearly 60% of the population is overweight and nobody seems to want to point fingers at the over-endorsement of fast food restaurants…
[Via: The Jerusalim Post]
