Cigarettes were marketed as health tonics using fake secret processes and opera star testimonials

Evidence

In 1917, the brand had gotten its start with an idea conceived by Hopkins. “It’s toasted” was the slogan, the “secret” step supposedly yielding a better flavor. In the mid-1920s, Lasker built on the concept with a campaign borrowing from patent medicine’s playbook: the brand was presented as a health tonic—specifically, a cure for the problem of sore throats caused by most cigarettes. With a new claim that toasting “removes harmful irritants that cause throat irritation,” including “harmful corrosive acids,” the Lucky Strike slogan became: “Your throat protection—against irritation—against cough.” There was even a secret process involved: “the ‘TOASTING’ process includes the use of the Ultra Violet Ray…heat purifies and so ‘TOASTING’—that extra, secret process—removes harmful irritants that cause throat irritation and coughing.” To drive home the hygienic benefit, Lasker ran a “precious voice” campaign, with testimonials from opera stars and other singers. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 231

Categorization

• XREF: The pseudo-scientific ‘secret process’ health claim directly continues the patent medicine playbook from earlier chapters and presages the discredited medical claims later used against tobacco. — connects to: Tobacco companies advertised smoking as having genuine health and performance benefits — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1639
• DEFINE: Illustrates the ‘hard sell’ method transplanted from patent medicine to tobacco: fabricated secret processes, pseudo-scientific claims, and borrowed authority.

Broader Connections

• Tobacco companies advertised smoking as having genuine health and performance benefits #exemplifies (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1639