TRUTH IN ADVERTISING

In a previous post, I discussed how corporations and insurance companies have used their extensive advertising budgets to protect company profits and reduce corporate costs, by restricting the individual's access to the court system. They have done this by associating greed with the injured individual rather than with the business whose only reason for being is to make money. It is no small accomplishment to make Goliath seem like David, to make black seem white.

However this is not the first time corporate advertising has made such magic. We are now part of YouTube Nation, so, recently, having little better to do, I did a search for vintage commercials. I was taken back to an era when cigarette companies were allowed to advertise on TV. The first commercial included here was a real shocker, because I am a fan of George Fenneman, from his days as a sidekick for Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life. The title of the video on YouTube was: "Cigarettes Are Good For You". Take a look. You don't have to watch the toy advertisement attached to the end, though it is cute.

There are many items of interest in the commercial. Note the reference to the anonymous, yet apparently authoritative, "responsible consulting organization" and "competent medical specialist and his staff". Reminds me of countless "Independent Medical Exam" reports I have read over the years.

An unspecified number of folks smoked only Chesterfields in their normal amounts (half-pack to two packs a day) for six months. By the way, 45% had smoked for 1-30 years, averaging 10 years. What about the other 55%, smoked less than a year? More than 30 years?

Anyhow, before and after the six months a "thorough" exam was conducted, including X-Rays, of the nose, throat, sinuses and ears (ears?), though apparently not the lungs. In the opinion of this professional, the condition of these organs was not adversely affected over the six months by the cigarettes provided.

George concludes that consumers should remember this report and buy Chesterfields. I always like George Fenneman, from his days with Groucho and as a spokesman for some tea company. It gave me no pleasure to find that, ironically, his name appears on a site listing celebrities who died of smoking related diseases, emphysema.

Our next stop in this part of the advertising Hall of Fame is this spot for Camel:

A national survey finds that more doctors smoke Camel than any other cigarette. Note the clever positioning of a doctor's stethoscope on the table next to a pack of Camels. Rather oddly, the commercial ends with a 20 second shot of a woman in a strapless evening gown puffing on a cigarette. This is to remind the buying public, that though science may be science, let's not forget that sex sells.

Finally, and most grotesquely, we have this item, which needs no intro:

This went out over the airways at 7:30pm, in a day when most families had only CBS, NBC and ABC to choose from. Great way to recruit the next generation of smokers.

So, next time you see or hear an ad about frivolous lawsuits, tort reform and the need to protect corporations from the common man, remember that the ad-men of Madison Avenue have a long, proud history of spinning the truth to the point where we all get dizzy (they hope.)