YouTube! An advertising graveyard littered with cigarette commercials—all that hard work, and soon Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is going to have to look elsewhere for it’s billings.
The Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 implemented advertising restrictions, and yes, the likes of Lee Garner Jr.’s attorneys did draft the restrictions themselves, but it officially rendered the days of doctors and athletes hawing nicotine (for pay, at least) over. It also brought about the warning label we’ve all come to know and love—you know, the one that reminds us that no one who smokes will have Betty Draper’s complexion for long?
Within two years, cigarette ads would be banned from television entirely, and Mr. Garner’s Christmases would never be the same.
Footnote by Angela Serratore
History lovers! I’m taking care of Mad Men Unbuttoned this week! Come and visit, won’t you?
