The Truth Campaign

The truth® Campaign

Rotana Tarabzouni

University of Southern California

CMGT 510

Historical Background and the Inception of truth®

Every day in the United States, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 18 light up their first cigarette, and an estimated 50% in that age group become daily cigarette smokers. (Alters, Becker, Doak, Evans, Jacobson, Wiloch, 2006).

Despite speculation about the health risks of tobacco use, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that the topic was finally addressed scientifically. One of the turning points was an article published by Reader’s Digest titled “Cancer by the Carton”. The article was published in 1952 and brought forth the dangers of smoking to a mass audience (Norr, 1952). The article paved the way for other periodicals, and for the first time in a generation, cigarette sales were in decline. (Dinger, 2009).Big Tobacco responded with two tactics. First, the formation of the Tobacco Industry Council, which, in reality was little more than a public relations ploy. Secondly, they developed “healthier” cigarettes with better filters and low-tar formulations. Sales rebounded and by 1964, nearly half of adult Americans smoked.

With this startling increase of smokers, came another turning point in the tobacco debate, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry published a report that would bring the tobacco industry under indefinite siege. Smoking and Health concluded that cigarette smoking was casually related to lung cancer in men, and the data on women was pointing in the same direction. The following years brought about a ping pong match with motions like the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act -which required that every cigarette package carry the surgeon’s general warning – being met by the tobacco industry creating a new generation of healthier cigarettes that forced people to smoke more to get their nicotine fix. (Dinger, 2009).

Tobacco companies could count on the support of senators and congressmen...