The LSU Health Sciences is putting on an exhibit "Not a Cough in a Carload" to show how tobacco companies used to advertise to attract new smokers.
By the beginning of the 20th century there was already research to show that smoking was harmful to health. But tobacco companies were on their toes, and they immediately launched a campaign to counter this data.
Deidra Woodson, worked on hanging up the ads for the exhibit, and she did not fail to miss the irony of the friendly doctor holding a pack of cigarettes in one of the advertisements. These kinds of images were used make people feel that smoking was safe and healthy.
But the creators of the exhibit found that there was no evidence that doctors ever supported or endorsed this habit. It was rather the stars of Hollywood that signed deals to promote cigarettes as early as the 1920's. The exhibit even holds a deal signed by Sylvester Stallone in 1983…
[Via: shreveporttimes.com]
