Tobacco companies manufactured physician endorsements without substantive proof
Evidence
Lord & Thomas would send along the cartons to various physicians in the mid-1920s, requesting a response to whether “Lucky Strike Cigarettes…are less irritating to sensitive and tender throat than other cigarettes.” The survey responses were then used to verify their claim that the “toasting process” made Luckies “less irritating.” However there was no substantive proof of the claim. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1249
Categorization
- XREF: Picks up the wider theme of manufactured expertise and paid medical endorsement echoed in later advertising history and marketing scholarship. — connects to: Patent medicine makers fabricated doctor endorsements for credibility — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 114; Lucky Strike bought physician endorsements of smoking with free cigarette cartons — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 232; Tobacco companies advertised smoking as having genuine health and performance benefits — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1639 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Patent medicine makers fabricated doctor endorsements for credibility
#corroborates(0.95) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 114 - Lucky Strike bought physician endorsements of smoking with free cigarette cartons
#exemplifies(0.90) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 232 - Tobacco companies advertised smoking as having genuine health and performance benefits
#expands(0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1639 - Peddlers manufactured medicine publicly as spectacle to sell dubious remedies
#corroborates(0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 86