Cigarette Advertising

IN THE 1980s and 1990s, the duplicitous behavior of the tobacco industry increasingly attracted public criticism and was exposed in several trials and lawsuits. Vast sectors of the public opinion questioned the legality of smoking, and thus questioned its advertising: why should a deadly product be marketed as a pleasurable commodity? On the other hand, a considerable number of people felt that the demand for an increased regulation of smoking was an infringement on their freedom of choice. Bans on cigarette advertising, they claimed, conflicted with the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. The battle over tobacco products and their marketing rages on and, significantly, this debate has spread outside legal courts into popular culture, from the cartoon strips by G. B. Trudeau and the popular, ...