Tobacco companies advertised smoking as having genuine health and performance benefits

Evidence

Despite smoking’s heavy toll, the tobacco industry touted the health benefits of smoking as an additional justification, characterizing the cigarette as a “portable mild bio-stressor” that enhances performance on routinized tasks requiring sustained attention, and that is a tranquilizer for the stresses of modern life. It is also portrayed as a safer drug: Nicotine is not only a very fine drug, but the techniques of administration by smoking has psychological advantages and a built-in control against excessive absorption. It is almost impossible to take an overdose of nicotine the way it is only too easy to do with sleeping pills. (Ellis, 1962) In addition to these health benefits, smoking brings feelings of satisfaction and pleasure: “people gain considerable satisfaction from smoking, satisfaction that in their eyes exceeds the expected costs” (Bennett & Di Lorenzo, Bandura_1e_ch05. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1639

Categorization

• CANDY: The industry claim that nicotine is safer than sleeping pills because you ‘almost can’t overdose’ is a delightfully absurd piece of spin worth sharing.
• QUESTION: Was there ever any traction in the claim that nicotine is a ‘built-in control against excessive absorption’ — did anyone in medicine ever take the safer-drug framing seriously before it collapsed?
• XREF: connects to: Tobacco companies manufactured physician endorsements without substantive proof — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1249; Cigarettes were marketed as health tonics using fake secret processes and opera star testimonials — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 231; Lucky Strike bought physician endorsements of smoking with free cigarette cartons — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 232 (+1 more)