Health Propaganda, Exposed
Before you act: Don't stop, replace, or delay any treatment without talking to your doctor.
“All of the “doctors” in these ads came out of central casting from among actors dressed up to look like doctors.”
Primary-source advertisements with archive curators' commentary.
SRITA is a Stanford academic research collection founded by Dr. Robert Jackler; no specific funding statement on the page.
51 advertisements from R.J. Reynolds' 1940–1949 Camel campaign.
R.J. Reynolds "paid for surveys to be conducted during medical conventions": doctors "were gifted free packs of Camel cigarettes at tobacco company booths" and then asked their favorite brand or what they carried. "All of the 'doctors' in these ads came out of central casting." A 1946 ad: "Every doctor in private practice was asked: What cigarette do you smoke doctor?"
The ads did not explicitly claim smoking was healthy; the curators describe the implied message.
At the time, the health hazards of smoking were not yet firmly documented; curators note the big push to document hazards came later.