The next time you are watching an old Hollywood movie from the 30s, 40s, or 50s, look at how Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda (and many, many other idols of ‘cool’) just can’t seem to ever stop smoking! The Los Angeles Times as well as some other media now revealed the reason why…

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

 

Actors from the golden age of Hollywood were paid thousands of dollars by tobacco companies to smoke and endorse their products.

A study reveals how more than 200 stars, including matinee idols John Wayne, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, all benefited and one firm paid more than $3m in today’s money in a year.

In return, the tobacco firms funded print and radio adverts for the stars and their films.

The research by the University of California, published in the journal Tobacco Control, shows how film classics of the Thirties and Forties still help to advertise smoking today.

The extent of smoking promotion was revealed following the release of documents from anti-smoking court cases.

Gable, Tracy, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford were all top earners in 1937, each taking $10,000 ($146,583 today) in one year’s sponsorship from American Tobacco, makers of the Lucky Strike brand.

Bette Davis and Betty Gable were also among 50 household names giving endorsements-with others such as Bob Hope paid $2,500 ($36,646).

Deals started as talkies took off with Jazz Singer’ star Al Jolson testifying that Lucky Strike was ‘the cigarette of the acting profession’.

The study, which concentrated on the period between 1927 and 1951, points to classic films such as Casablanca and Now, Voyager that feature prominent smoking scenes, and says glamorous publicity posters helped to ‘perpetuate public tolerance’.

Other brands that benefited from the celebrity endorsement included Old Gold, Chesterfield and Camel.

 

The researchers claim that as a result, more young people took up smoking during the era because they were influenced by Hollywood stars.

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Have you been delaying the decision to stop smoking cigarettes because you are smoking so-called "light" or "mild" cigarettes - believing you do less harm to yourself (and to those around you) than folks who smoke regular ones?

Well, as I have indicated in other parts of my blog, you may be in for a rude awakening…

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

Cigarette smokers should not be misled into thinking that ‘light’ and ‘mild’ cigarettes are less harmful to their health, when compared to full strength tobacco products.

The New Zealand Commerce Commission, acting on complaints, has been investigating whether the use of the descriptors ‘light’ and ‘mild’ on cigarettes could be potentially misleading under the Fair Trading Act.

As a result of the investigation the Commission has issued warnings to three major tobacco companies supplying the New Zealand market - British American Tobacco (New Zealand) Limited, Imperial Tobacco Co. of New Zealand Limited and Philip Morris (New Zealand) Limited.

"Our concern with descriptors such as ‘light’ and ‘mild’ is that consumers may believe they are exposing themselves to less harm if they smoke these cigarettes, as compared to regular strength cigarettes," says Commerce Commission Director of Fair Trading Adrian Sparrow. "Whilst technical machine testing of these products might show them to have a lower level of toxicants, our investigations suggest that the impact of human behaviour results in there being little difference between the intake of toxicants from these products and their regular strength counterparts."

"Our investigations reveal a body of evidence to suggest that smokers who use ‘light’ and ‘mild’ tobacco products may compensate in their smoking behaviour, by inhaling more deeply when smoking these products, by using the filters differently or by smoking more cigarettes to receive the same or nearly the same amounts of toxicants as they would obtain through smoking regular strength cigarettes," says Mr Sparrow.

"The bottom line is smoking causes many diseases, including cancer. There is no such thing as a safe, or safer, cigarette. If you smoke ‘light’ or ‘mild’ cigarettes believing these to be less harmful to your health you are probably fooling yourself," says Mr Sparrow.

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