Advertising is a powerful thing. Too powerful sometimes. Sometimes it kills. Ah, but who cares? Certainly not the corporate barons and Madison Avenue types. I mean, so what if the product makes people die in horrible ways? Profits are what America’s all about. Right?
Still, once in a while—a very great while—the public gets fed up and can have it no more. Like in 1970 when public interest groups put the squeeze on Congress to ultimately ban the broadcast of cigarette commercials on American television. Smokers were dropping like flies, and the tobacco companies were egging them on. Even smokers knew it had to stop.
At right are two examples of particularly dangerous commercials, one produced in 1969 and the other currently airing in a number of states. Both appeal to viewers in similar ways—a direct appeal to the emotions. The first ad is, of course, illegal. It can no longer be broadcast. But is it any more deadly than the second?
Watch them both and decide for yourself. Which ad poses the greater threat to public health and safety? It takes evil men to peddle death on tv.
Photo Credit: Mike Kline
