For Tobacco Awareness Month this November, the Cancer History Project is working with University of Alabama’s Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society to highlight tobacco’s past in oncology’s history—from pharmaceutical advertisements, to World War II propaganda, and depictions of tobacco in cartoons.
The Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society is led by Alan Blum, professor and Gerald Leon Wallace Endowed Chair in Family Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine; Director, Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society.
The center aims to explore the historical and contemporary aspects of the tobacco issue, as well as the role and influence of tobacco in society through research, professional education, and community outreach.
Contributor spotlight: Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society
- Photo archive: Depictions of smoking in Pharmaceutical Advertising
By Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society | Nov. 4, 2022
Editor’s note: The following online exhibit was originally published on the website for the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society.
By Alan Blum, Professor and Gerald Leon Wallace Endowed Chair in Family Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine; Director, Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society.
For decades pharmaceutical manufacturers have employed stereotypical images of the inveterate smoker in advertisements for prescription medications in medical journals. Physicians have thus been cued not to talk with the patient about stopping smoking but rather to prescribe an additional medication, often one to treat an adverse effect of smoking. But everyone “benefits”: the physician (who gets to bill for having prescribed a medication), the pharmacist (for filling the prescription), the patient (for being given a purported cure), the medical journal (for the advertising revenue), the advertising agency, and most of all the pharmaceutical company. Because it usually takes many attempts to stop smoking, tobacco companies and retailers also continue to benefit when patients relapse.
Not included here are the many Chantix and Nicorette advertisements on TV and in both the medical and lay press, because this brings up a different can of worms, namely, the exaggerated claim that one needs a medication in order to stop smoking. Or as Mark Twain said, “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.”
View the full photo archive here.
Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the Center for the study of Tobacco and Society. The Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society is welcoming partnerships with other institutions to take possession of, digitize, exhibit, and otherwise make available the 1,500 boxes of original documents, ephemera, photographs, and news coverage on the tobacco industry, cigarette marketing, and the anti-smoking movement in the latter half of the 20th century, all of which has been in storage and unseen for two decades. If your institution could provide a permanent home for the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society, please contact Alan Blum at ablum@ua.edu.
Recent contributions
- The Dorrance family’s contributions to Fox Chase Cancer Center
By Fox Chase Cancer Center | Nov. 3, 2022
The Dorrance family helped make Fox Chase Cancer Center the distinguished institution that it is today.
Probe any successful institution’s history and you will naturally find remarkable individuals. Rarer is finding remarkable leadership that comes from an entire family. Such was the case with the Dorrances, whose passion for advancing cancer care helped make Fox Chase Cancer Center the distinguished place it is today.
The story starts with George M. Dorrance, who set a high bar for medical excellence when he became the first medical director of the American Oncologic Hospital (AOH), one of the founding institutions of Fox Chase, in 1929. An exceptional physician and pioneering plastic surgeon, Dorrance was known for his innovations in head and neck surgery.
- Video: A Tribute to William W. Shingleton, MD
By Duke Cancer Institute | Nov. 3, 2022
A video tribute to William W. Shingleton, founding director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center (now Duke Cancer Institute).
This column features the latest posts to the Cancer History Project by our growing list of contributors.
The Cancer History Project is a free, web-based, collaborative resource intended to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Cancer Act and designed to continue in perpetuity. The objective is to assemble a robust collection of historical documents and make them freely available.
Access to the Cancer History Project is open to the public at CancerHistoryProject.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @CancerHistProj, or follow our podcast.
Is your institution a contributor to the Cancer History Project? Eligible institutions include cancer centers, advocacy groups, professional societies, pharmaceutical companies, and key organizations in oncology.
To apply to become a contributor, please contact admin@cancerhistoryproject.com.
