A recent School of Medicine study chronicles the intricate advertising campaign crafted by cigarette companies using doctors’ endorsements to promote their products as healthful, starting in the 1920s and continuing for half a century.
Senior author Robert Jackler, professor of otolaryngology, called the advertisements uncovered by the study “outrageous.”
“Tobacco science used pseudoscientific experiments to arrive at a preordained conclusion,” he said.
The advertisements used endorsements by celebrities–Mickey Mantle for Viceroys, John Wayne for Camels and even Santa Claus for Marlboro and Lucky–and throat doctors to validate their claims.
“At that time, people weren’t so concerned about lung cancer,” Jackler said. “People were concerned about throat irritation. So throat doctors would endorse their products.”
Memos from companies such as Philip Morris reveal that tobacco companies recruited doctors from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania to promote their product. They also used slogans such as Lucky Strike’s, “the Finest Flavor and protects the throat,” and Old Gold’s, “ask your dentist why Old Golds are better for the teeth.”
The study, published in the January issue of The Laryngoscope, also determined that physicians were paid about $11,000 annually, making an additional $5,000 in endorsements a substantial incentive to comply with industry rhetoric. In addition, companies funded extravagant dinners for those throat doctors willing to comply.
“Not only would [doctors] recommend smoking, they actually prescribed cigarettes, saying smoke this brand because they’re better for your throat,” Jackler said.
The Journal of the American Medical Association stopped publishing tobacco advertisements in 1953, but “a number of state and local medical journals continued advertising cigarettes into the late 1960s,” wrote Robert Proctor, professor of history, in an email to The Daily.
Proctor, who teaches a class titled, “Global Tobacco Science and Shenanigans,” also noted that despite changes in legislation preventing historical marketing techniques, tobacco companies continue to advertise their product as “sexy, glamorous, adventurous, liberating and fun.”
“You don’t see unattractive or overweight people in tobacco ads, do you?” Proctor asked. “The fact is that Americans still smoke about 350 billion cigarettes every year, enough to circle the globe some 800 times.”
The study was conducted as a part of Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising, with additional funding from the department of otolaryngology.