Issues in Interdisciplinarity 2019-20/Truth in the advertisement of tobacco

Introduction

The truth of the advertisement of tobacco in the 20th century should be viewed through interdisciplinary lenses. The particular issue of truth is that we have to consider the problem of objective truth, supported by evidence, and subjective truth that is unique to an individual and goes beyond mere facts.

The advertisement of tobacco products has been continuously subjected to false information about potential effects on health - due to lack of research or due to tobacco firms trying to hide or mitigate the truth in order to attract more costumers. To accurately assess the complexity and the importance of the truth in the advertisement of tobacco, we have to view it from a medical and psychological perspective.

Medical Approach

First we view the truth of advertisement in the tobacco industry through the lens of medicine. Medicine as a discipline aims for objective truth - particularly how smoking affects health. It uses a positivist approach in its research to gather evidence to determine whether health-related claims in the advertisements are true or false.

In the first half of the 20th century medical research about negative effects of tobacco products was still in its early stages, leaving room for many false claims used in the advertisement. The latter not only failed to address the negative health effects of smoking, but also professed false claims about positive, beneficial effects of smoking - from cigarettes that help reduce throat irritation to cigarettes as a way of treating asthma, hay fever or cold.

Filters Myth

One of the most prominent examples of inaccurate facts used in the advertisement of tobacco was the so called "filter myth". The tobacco industry promoted filters as "the greatest health protection in cigarette history". Chemists were aware that filters actually removed no additional tar or nicotine - proving a deliberate decision to advertise false information for economic gain. These health claims boosted Viceroy cigarette sales and new filter cigarette brands started flooding the market. In 1952 Kent introduced filters made of crocidolite asbestos, which was later discovered to cause many health-related problems, including mesothelioma, a fatal form of cancer. However, here one can argue that false claims were made as a consequence of lack of research or evidence.

Smoking is “the most extensively documented cause of disease ever investigated” . With increased medical research through the century, more negative health effects related to smoking were discovered. Medicine contributed to the issue of truth in advertising of tobacco with its efforts for objective truth in the matter - disproving the claims made in ads of positive effects on health.

However, it is important to note that while medicine aims for objective truth, there are still subjective components present (biases in research). We can also see that the truth of medicine is not in any way absolute and is constantly changing due to new research, evidence - and will continue to do so in the future.

Psychological Approach

Second we view the truth of advertisement of tobacco through a psychological approach. Truth in psychology differs importantly from that of medicine - while medicine is concerned with objective truth, psychology focuses more on the subjective truth of each individual. In other words, psychology's primary concern is not whether the claims about health effects of cigarettes are objectively true or false, but rather how different marketing techniques influenced people's perception of truth - essentially, why people believed those claims, how different social groups responded to them and how their subjective truth was changed.

File:Lucky Strike cigarettes ad.jpg

Lucky Strike used physicians in their ads to support their claims that cigarettes provide "throat protection against irritation against cough"

"BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!": Ad for Phillip Morris cigarettes portrays a woman who looks proud, confident, glamorous - capitalising on women's liberation movements

Prominent Public Figures in Advertisement

The tobacco industry has used entertainers, politicians, doctors, dentists and other prominent figures in their advertising. Their common feature is that people trust them and their judgement that smoking is good for them. Even though the ad might not contained false information, which is an issue of objective truth, it subtly influenced people's own subjective truth. By using a certain public figure, that is regarded as responsible, trustworthy, or admirable, tobacco firms created a perception that smoking is something desirable, socially acceptable and essentially healthy and good for the targeted consumer.

The example with health professionals advertising tobacco products is even more significant. It combined false claims of positive health benefits (objective truth) with doctors' authority and social status that made people believe those claims (subjective truth). "The physician constituted an evocative, reassuring figure to include in their advertisements"

Advertisement Aimed at Women

At the beginning of the 1920s, tobacco industries started targeting women in their advertisement to expand their market. They advertised smoking as an act of "emancipation, stylishness, sophistication, and sexual allure" . They captured women's attention and encouraged them to associate cigarettes with their fight for greater emancipation and independence. The strategy and aim of such advertising was to persuade women to adopt this "truth" promoted by tobacco industry. Women believed that they could obtain social popularity, respect and confidence by smoking. By promoting this notion of independence and desirability of women smoking, advertisers succeeded in influencing the individual's perception of how cigarettes help you to achieve that goal .

As with the medical approach it is important to recognise that while psychology is largely concerned with the subjective truth of each individual, it still conducts its research in the most objective manner possible, as well as it aims for objective truth as to how to advertise to target different social groups, employing both positivist as well as normative approach in its research.

Conclusion

Truth was an issue in the advertisement of tobacco for a large part of the 20th century, because of the lack of medical research that allowed tobacco firms to incorporate misleading and untruthful claims in their advertisement to appeal to consumers. Medical approach to advertising of smoking focuses on the so called objective truth, in particular how advertisement used false claims about health effects of smoking. With increased medical research through the century, medicine provides empirical evidence to disprove such inaccurate claims. However, to accurately assess the issue of truth in the advertisement of tobacco, one has to also consider the subjective truth of each individual - in our case the consumer who believed those claims. Psychology focuses on this issue, and studies how marketing techniques in advertising influenced people's subjective truth, and essentially made them believe the tobacco industry's claims.

In conclusion, to assess the complexity and the importance of the truth in the advertisement of tobacco, we are required to use an interdisciplinary approach. By studying how different disciplines, in our case medicine and psychology, approach and see the truth, we are provided with a more complete picture and more accurate view of the actual truth in the advertisement of tobacco.