How Doctors Sold Cigarettes

1950s cigarette commercial stills

OK, times were different then. Or were they?

Here are two US cigarette commercials from the 1950s which show how the authority afforded doctors and a possibly touching faith in the results of a medical study funded by the manufacturer were used to sell the health benefits of cigarettes.

Click to watch More Doctors Smoke Camels (1 min).

Be warned!

The same tactics are being used today, but are as invisible and as 'normal' to you as these adverts would have been in their time!

Further resources

You might also be interested in the following:

The Marketing of Medicine

Spoof Pharmaceutical Commercial

Lunesta Commercial

The Marketing of Madness and Big Pharma: Big Bucks listed under Mercury and Medicine section in the Video Hub

Or for all media use the Search facility at the top of the page

How doctors sold cigarettes: Article summary

A short article accompanying two US cigarette adverts from the 1950s in which doctors recommend the health benefits of smoking.

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The Natural Recovery Plan Newsletter March 2010 Issue 3. Copyright Alison Adams 2010. All rights reserved
Dr Alison Adams Dentist, Naturopath, Author and Online Health Coach www.thenaturalrecoveryplan.com