Light up a Torch of Freedom | Cigarettes
Transcript: "Do you remember bubble gum cigarettes? (Ooo, I memba!) Whatever happened to those? You see, I was a 90s kid – I know, I was adorable – and as soon as I started earning an allowance, I remember riding my little Huffy bike down to the gas station to buy them with my friends. That way we could pretend to smoke over a decade before we were legally allowed to. But then they just sort of disappeared and I never really understood why. So, let’s answer that question today, whatever happened to the bubbl e gum cigarette? [Door opens] Really, that’s the question you’re going with? That’s pretty lame compared to your last video. I know, but it’s really hard to come up with something to follow that– [Lighter click] You can’t do that in here! Why not? I thought this was America. Oh god, you’re a libertarian. Well yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything. I know the risks; I’m free to make my own choices regarding my health… it’s called self-determination, look it up. You were a teenag er in the 2000s, didn’t you see that South Park episode or that one Penn and Teller show? Huh… Yeah, I should probably talk about that… I guess I never really thought about how “comedy” shaped the discussion around cigarettes when I was growing up. Yeah… yeah, you know what? That’s a much better question. What? Why you hate America? No, how did the cigarette become a Libertarian symbol of individual liberty and personal responsibility? … and also the bubble gum thing. I’m curious. [Intro Music] This video was brought to you by CuriosityStream and Nebula. You couldn’t afford a better TV? I know, people were complaining about that, but I’m trying to go with a whole retro VHS look. Well at least make a better connection… Better connection? It’s a built-in DVD player. Could you stop messing with stuff? I’m trying to make a video here. Hah, did you see when this thing was made? Put that thing out, you look ridiculous. Ridiculous? Please, you wish you could look this cool. I look plenty cool . You’re wearing cargo shorts. Oh, now you’re giving me fashion advice? You need fashion advice. [Door slam] As much as I wish I could tell this story from a personal perspective, cigarettes were already a ubiquitous part of American society by the time I came around, so we’ll have to pick someone else for now. Rose Cipollone was born in December 1925 and picked up her first pack of Chesterfields at the age of sixteen. At the time she began smoking, the health risks associated with cigarettes we ren’t really known because, believe it or not, cigarettes were a relatively recent invention. Several other things had to fall into place before these death sticks could pop into existence. American Indians had been using tobacco for ritual and medicinal purposes for over a thousand years before European contact. But the way they used tobacco was very different from the way we do. To use a ceremonial peace pipe, they would draw the smoke into their mouths and then ritually blow it in each other’ s faces. They never inhaled it into their lungs like you would with a cigarette. Because back in the day, the nicotine content in tobacco was so strong that it was basically a hallucinogen. Much like caffeine, nicotine is a natural insecticide found within the leaves of the tobacco plant; a single drop of the pure stuff will kill you, but in lower doses it causes euphoria. The active ingredient in cigarettes is itself a poison, but you knew that already. I’m not here to preach. Europeans learned how to smoke tobacco during Columbus’ first journey in 1492, they brought the practice back to Spain and it quickly spread across the continent. Through its colonies in the New World, the Spanish would have a near-monopoly on the tobacco trade in Europe for the next century. Then, an extremely important event in the history of tobacco, Britain, and the future United States occurred – the Anglo-Spanish War. This was when the Spanish Armada was destroyed, and Britain began to dominate the seas wi th an eye towards creating their own colonies. Almost immediately after making peace with Spain in 1604, King James I of England wrote an anti-tobacco screed appropriately titled “A Counterblaste to Tobacco. ” Calling it “a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lung, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembles the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.” Which is Hell, he’s talking about Hell. It’s tempting to think t hat he was centuries ahead of the science on this, but mostly he was just annoyed that his subjects were buying a “noxious foreign weed” and placed a 4000% tax on all imports. Which began the search for a domestic supply of tobacco. In 1607, Jamestown, Virginia was founded as a British colony in the New World and a few years later, John Rolfe showed up with a shipment of tobacco seeds. That’s right, this is another video about Jamestown, it’s all coming together now. The first successful tobacco commercial crop of tobacco was cultivated in Virginia in 1612, within seven years, it was one of the country’s largest exports! So, tobacco helped to build America. That’s right. Within seven years huh? Well, 1612 plus seven is sixteen… The tobacco business was so great that many slaves were brought from Africa to help work the fields. Which means that if it weren’t for tobacco, many of our black friends wouldn’t be here today. I’m still trying to figure out why this stupid TV keeps cutting to random clips… at least it’s not PragerU this time, right? Anyway, if you followed the math there, South Park just agreed with the same timeline as the 1619 Project; this wasn’t always controversial, it was an accepted historical fact. Slavery existed in America at least a year before the Pilgrims landed, which is still a story for another time… I promise I’ll get to it. Within a few decades, slaves made up the majority of the labor force in tobacco, the colonies were exporting 20 million pounds a year, and half of British men were smoking on a daily basis. Though at this point, cigars and pipes were still their only options. In 1758, the Seville Tobacco Factory opened in Spain and became the most prominent producer of cigars and snuff in Europe. Cigars are made out of whole leaf tobacco and were too expensive for workers to consume themselves, so they often took the leftover scraps, rolled them in paper, and called them cigarettes. They were viewed as a lower-class form of tobacco, som ething you only did if you couldn’t afford the real thing. And it’s important to remember, these are still not the cigarettes we know today. Inhaling the smoke from one of these would send you on a vision quest, which was generally seen as an undesirable experience. You simply drew the smoke into your mouth, enjoyed the taste for a second, and released it. You’d still get a buzz from doing that, but you wouldn’t lose your mind. Unlike their European counterparts, Americans seemed much more fond rsity named after his father. He employed ten female workers who rolled each individual cigarette by hand; an experienced roller could produce 200 cigarettes an hour. It was an extremely labor-intensive product with a very slim profit margin. Nobody in the wider tobacco industry thought that cigarettes would ever catch on, most dismissed them as a fad for poor people. I’m afraid I don’t believe in cigarettes, much less a machine for making them. It turns my stomach, Sir, every time I have occasi e available for you to light up whenever you wanted. But these things are designed to be smoked out-and-about, you need a portable solution. Handheld lighters weren’t a thing yet. Petroleum products like butane and kerosene wouldn’t exist for another decade and nobody was using whale oil to light cigarettes. So okay, a match… when do you think matches were invented? While the first friction match was created in 1826, it used toxic phosphorus. If you were to light a cigarette with one of those, i furniture… and not-so-subtle advertising. He gave out branded matchbooks for free so people could easily light up his product. Then he installed a print shop in his factory to produce collectible trading cards which were included in every pack, featuring famous landmarks, Civil War generals, athletes, scantily clad actresses, and women from far off exotic places. This is the origin of baseball cards, trading cards, and eventually, PokΓ©mon. As you can imagine, these cards were especially popular day, it would take you almost 37 years to get through them all. Are you a member of a grocery store or have a credit card where you accumulate points or travel miles? Well, tobacco was one of the first industries to have a loyalty program like that. In fact, you’re going to find that the cigarette is responsible for a lot of our modern culture – we’re barely getting started. By the turn of the century, cigarettes only accounted for 2% of all tobacco consumption in the US. Chew was still, by far, as they were introduced, the new president of American Tobacco came up with it while watching the curing process. They didn’t need to hire a fancy ad agency, that was invented for the TV show… Sorry for ruining the magic. The first big bump in the cigarette consumption came during World War I, when the US War Department began issuing tobacco rations to soldiers and sailors. Servicemembers received four cigarettes or four-tenths of an ounce of loose tobacco every day. This was right in the middle free advertising with the added benefit of appearing neutral – it wasn’t the tobacco companies saying it, it was your trustworthy local newspaper. By far, the most famous of these Created Events occurred during the 1929 Easter Parade in New York City. Riding the coattails of the Suffragette Movement, Bernays sponsored a float loaded with female smokers, who urged other women to “Fight another sex taboo! Light another torch of freedom!” His plan worked, the controversy spread through the media an talkies, the cigarette retained its position as one of the most widely used props and perhaps the earliest example of product placement. By the end of World War II, 48% of American men were smoking regularly along with 36% of women. Which included Rose Cipollone, who bought her first pack of cigarettes in 1942… Did you forget about her? That’s who this video is about. The marketing strategies employed by Edward Bernays catapulted cigarettes to the leading form of tobacco consumption by the 1950s make your mouth taste fresh. There is such a smoke. It’s called Spud. New Spud. It’s new. It’s new… It has a light touch of menthol that freshens the smoke, something wonderful. New Spud, by the makers of Marlboro. It has a fresh taste like it was air-conditioned. You’re going to try new Spud, tomorrow. You’re going to try new Spud. You’re going to buy a pack. Tomorrow. …Tomorrow… New Spud… [Door opens] Bruh, are you alright? What did I tell you about smoking in here?! Okay, first of all, I don n? It's a lot like taking over-the-counter pain medication. It doesn’t actually treat the cause of your pain, it just dulls your perception of it. Which is fine if you have a headache or you’re recovering from an injury. But if you’re taking it before going to work so you can stand around for eight hours and continue to do that repetitive motion, you’re just causing more damage to yourself. Which is exactly what mentholated cigarettes encouraged. Since menthol masks the irritation caused by inha bility to filter out irritants and “air-soften” every puff. Chesterfield! Nothing satisfies like the big clean taste of tough tobacco in Chesterfield kings. The farther smoke travels the milder it tastes. The farther smoke travels, the cooler it tastes. The farther smoke travels, the smoother it tastes. And today, only Chesterfield air-softens the big clean taste of tough tobacco end to end with new, top porosity paper. No wonder nothing satisfies like Chesterfield kings. Chesterfield! They sati e glycol for decades. At this point, just about every brand was using some sort of marketing gimmick to claim that their cigarettes were somehow healthier. But the one you’ve probably all been waiting for me to talk about is Camel. Camels are so mild that in a recent test of hundreds of people who smoked only Camels for thirty consecutive days, noted throat specialists, making weekly examinations, reported not one single case of throat irritation due to smoking Camels! Since they hit the market, mmunity was starting to notice an anecdotal link and a few large-scale studies had been done in the United States and Britain demonstrating that correlation. Reader’s Digest took those findings and translated the scientific jargon into a language everyone could understand. Now, I said I wasn’t going to beat you over the head with science on this … but I didn’t say anything about having someone else do it. The Reader’s Digest article made the problem clear “the increase in lung cancer mortality s edical Journal in September. Not only did these studies each recruit hundreds or thousands of people, some of them showed something called a dose response effect, which is when increased exposure to the bad thing lines up with increased or decreased rates of disease. So in this case, the groups that smoked more cigarettes had the highest rates of lung cancer, while the groups that smoked less cigarettes had less lung cancer. Plus the dose response effect is easy to translate to a lay audience — . The industry pledged to work with scientists and called for more research, while simultaneously continuing to push the “no proof” narrative for decades… a tactic which would later be borrowed by several other industries. The statement also announced the creation of the Tobacco Industry Research Committee, otherwise known as TIRC. It was sold to the public as a scientific group that would independently investigate the health effects of smoking, but in reality, it was controlled by a PR firm hir for six months in their normal amount, ten to forty a day. After a thorough examination of every member of the group, the medical specialist stated, “It is my opinion, that the ears, nose, throat and accessory organs of all participating subjects examined by me were not adversely affected in the six-month period by smoking the cigarettes provided. ” Remember this report and buy Chesterfields. How does Accu-ray make Chesterfield a better cigarette than was ever possible before? Every cigarette ma e the tobacco through the new Spud filter. Now you can have famous Camel quality in new Camel filters too! Camel filters have a real taste, too. Yes, that is the guy from Jaws! Camel filter cigarettes! We’re going to need a bigger filter. You get refreshing menthol and you get, the longest filter offered yet. It’s Alpine, Alpine, Alpine… Filtered menthols quickly became popular across all races and genders. 30% of all cigarettes sold at the time featured this combination. The market had become s l filters will be made this better way. Recessed like today’s Parliaments. Because filters that are flush like this feedback nicotine and tar. But with Parliaments exclusive recessed filter you smoke clean. The United States Testing Company confirms high filtration, no filter feedback… on your lips, or hers. Tobacco tastes best when the filters recessed. Parliaments. Smoke Parliament cigarettes! No filter feedback! Yeah, that song is catchy as hell. Good luck getting that out of your head. It’s anies to avoid making explicit health claims about their products and to stop using testimonials from doctors and scientists. But the damage was done, people had already convinced themselves that filters made cigarettes healthier. Filtered cigarettes made up 90% of the market in the 70s and their perception as being safer allowed Americans to justify smoking even more than they had previously. By 1974, consumption had increased to 4100 per person per year. That’s 11 cigarettes for every man, wom acts and when we talk about Chesterfield we give you the facts. The game show I’ve Got a Secret was created by Winston, the same brand behind The Flintstones, which was an adult-oriented cartoon in the same genre as The Simpsons and South Park. Winston tastes good, like a [click, click] cigarette should! Having the main characters or hosts of the show pitch the product helped lend credibility to the otherwise repetitive ad copy… And that’s why I’d like to talk to you about CuriosityStream. Here better, where we’ve worked out a deal to get you both CuriosityStream and Nebula for only $14.79 a year. Remember that deal and sign up for CuriosityStream and Nebula, you’ll also be supporting the channel when you do. You’re going to sign up for CuriosityStream and Nebula. You are going to do it. Tomorrow. This period of broadcast television ended in 1959, when it was revealed that several advertisers were rigging their quiz shows in an effort to increase ratings. Following the scandal, the FCC ip Morris began their Marlboro Man advertisements in 1954. But just like Barbie, he had a hard time holding down a job and ended up doing everything from serving in the Navy to playing football. It would take almost a decade before he finally settled on being the iconic cowboy. In 1957, the Surgeon General put together an advisory committee to analyze smoking’s effect on health and come up with policies to combat the issue. The next year, the Tobacco Institute was founded as a trade association d the Fairness Doctrine and ruled that if broadcasters wanted to keep tobacco ads on their network, they would also have to give equal time to the opposing view. For every three cigarette commercials, they had to show one anti-smoking public service announcement. This is a smoking machine. It is used to test the nicotine and tar content of various brands of cigarettes. Just a quick clarification here. When we talk about tar content in cigarettes, we’re not talking about the petroleum tar they us ng, long way! This may seem counterintuitive, but like the warning label, this ban actually helped the industry. Without the mass exposure of commercials, it was nearly impossible for any start-up companies to gain a foothold in the market, which protected the already-established brands. This ban affected both television and radio, which tended towards a white audience. Black people on the other hand tended– Here we go! Yet another Knowing Better video about race! Without television or radio, to campaign in 1981, involving hundreds of newspapers and magazines, and tens of thousands of billboard and transport ads. Many black-owned businesses and publications began to rely on that advertising revenue. So, whenever there was a push to ban billboard or print advertising for cigarettes, black community leaders, business owners, and civil rights groups came out in support of Big Tobacco. This targeted cultivation of a market for menthols is what turned them into a black thing. During the mild theaters, libraries, and schools. Minnesota’s law a few years later was even more restrictive, banning smoking in all public areas unless specifically allowed and mandating the creation of smoking sections in restaurants. Within just a few years, 36 states and 20% of businesses had restrictions on smoking. In 1981, a research institute in Tokyo concluded a sixteen-year long study of a quarter-million people including the non-smoking wives of smoking husbands. They found an increase in lung canc gregated from society for enjoying a great American pastime. They funded grassroots organizations and tried to link public smoking bans and regulations with the overreaching, paternalistic government of the Prohibition-era. Rose Cipollone developed smoker’s cough and in 1974, her doctor suggested she try the low-tar, low-nicotine cigarette named True. Several brands were coming out with “light” versions around this time. This wasn’t any better though, she developed cancer in 1981 and had to have swimming pool. So, in 1990, they banned smoking on all domestic flights under six hours, which is most of them. This was widely seen as a positive change by consumers, despite pushback from the tobacco industry. Two-thirds of non-smokers and half of all smokers believed that secondhand smoke was bad for you. It’s at this point that the EPA decided the science was robust enough to declare secondhand smoke a Class A human carcinogen with a report released in December 1992. This made just about eve plot point in 2005 movie Thank You for Smoking. He called the CEOs of all seven major tobacco companies to testify. Since they could no longer claim that there wasn’t enough evidence to link cigarettes and secondhand smoke with lung cancer, they had to shift their strategy. Yes or no, do you believe nicotine is not addictive? I believe nicotine is not addictive, yes. Mr. Johnson. Uh, Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine clearly do not meet the classic definitions of addiction, there is no intox es a day. He presented his findings to Philip Morris in 1982 and they immediately rejected them because replacing the active ingredient in cigarettes would require them to seek FDA approval, which they knew they would never get. But acetaldehyde already occurs naturally in tobacco smoke. DeNoble’s research had identified it as an impact booster that worked just as well on regular nicotine, so cigarette manufacturers began adding more of it to their product to make it more addictive. But we do no n’t manipulate it, it didn’t cause cancer, and it wasn’t addictive. Whistleblowers like Wigand and DeNoble had completely destroyed that narrative. Unfortunately, the Waxman hearings went nowhere, the Republicans took control of the House a few months later and none of the CEOs were charged with perjury. The Attorney General of Mississippi was the only reason the tobacco companies suffered any consequences. Less than a month after the hearings, he filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state to recove first payment went out recently to someone who sued the tobacco companies after the warning label appeared on the pack after she started smoking. But it didn’t mention her by name. You see, that was… Haha, what a funny joke… right up until you realize he’s probably talking about Rose Cipollone. In the midst of all these lawsuits, Big Tobacco realized that rather than continue to fight individual cases, they could just reach a settlement with the states, which would cover everyone. They’d write o heir coupon programs, and they had to get rid of all of their famous characters. I think it’s important to note here that none of these penalties were the result of government regulation. The Master Settlement Agreement was an out-of-court legal settlement between the tobacco industry and several individual states, not the federal government. The other way the government pretends to be caring, and discouraging, is they attack the advertising, the root of the problem. You know, the Marlboro Man h a centrist recently, he’s always been– [Sniff, sniff] What? It’s allowed now. Okay, you’re a libertarian and this is my private property. Well, actually it’s my landlord’s property and I don’t want to lose my security deposit, so still, you can’t smoke in here. Fascist. Okay, so when I was a teenager, I was also a centrist libertarian. It wasn’t like I examined all the political philosophies out there and picked the best one. I just watched a lot of TV shows which framed their political message didn’t overtly push politics, it was presented as common sense. They used to debunk psychics, UFOs, the bible. All stuff that made me feel super smart as a teenager. But they also did an episode on secondhand smoke… These folks are going to pretend that secondhand smoke is terrible for you and that science has shown this as undeniable fact. Not even close! Laws are being passed, businesses are being forced to shut down, and not one study anywhere offers conclusive proof that breathing in secondh vironmental Protection Agency that was released in 1993. And that study was the catalyst that opened the doors for lots of places to initiate bans on indoor smoking. This is the report which declared secondhand smoke a carcinogen, which came out in 1992, not 1993. Something you would know if you read the first page of the paper they’re showing on screen. It’s odd that they would pick this one study, and not the numerous reports by the Surgeon General discussing the hazards of secondhand smoke. N and we started seeing supposedly centrist comedy shows push that narrative. Yes, Ayn Rand was a chain smoker, but even back then, her followers considered that to be a weird take. It was the one thing she was wrong about that her fans decided to overlook, kind of like South Park on climate change or Penn and Teller on secondhand smoke. Or Bill Maher and his take on vaccines. Look man, I’m not usually one to resort to violence, but I really don’t know how else to explain to you that YOU CAN’T FUC e industry had successfully evaded every attempt at oversight since the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. This law also banned flavored tobacco products, which were just starting to become popular, there were cigarettes flavored with chocolate, mocha, cherry, berry, and even “Caribbean chill” – whatever that is. Curiously, menthols were left off of that list, probably because they currently make up 30% of the overall cigarette market. Those early e-cigarettes delivered a tiny fraction of the amoun y done. Millions of high schoolers were vaping up to a pod a day and 63% of them had no idea it contained nicotine. Vaping is bad for you, m’kay? But it’s less bad for you than smoking, so if you went from smoking to vaping, great, I’m all about harm reduction. But you are not the target customer for vaping, and you haven’t been for a long time. The small number of people who vape as a smoking cessation tool provide the industry cover for their more sinister target, which is first time nicotine er and George Floyd. Both of whom were killed by police in situations involving cigarettes. So we going to go act like Eric Garner didn’t happen, cause a situation where it could happen again with someone selling loosies. You end up with a police interaction… They ban the menthols, it’s going to accelerate selling loosies. They selling loosies anyway now, it’s going to go ten times higher. Cause y’all know y’all going to find a way to get y’alls Newports. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network is ns are permanently addicted. One in ten people who try to quit actually succeed, if you started during that teenage-young adult window, you’re probably hooked at this point. So, banning them outright isn’t really a viable option, as much as it pains me to say. Just a few days before filming this video, the FDA announced that they were going to reduce and limit the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to make them less addictive. And that will probably help discourage new smokers from picking up the ey’re definitely not going to be doing chemistry in their basement.
Key Takeaways
Bubble Gum Cigarettes' Disappearance: Bubble gum cigarettes, popular in the 90s, faded from the market but the reasons are not well understood.
Cigarette Symbolism: Cigarettes evolved into symbols of individual liberty and personal responsibility, a concept popularized in American culture.
Historical Origins of Tobacco: Tobacco use predates European contact, with indigenous peoples using it differently from modern practices.
Early Tobacco Use: Cigarettes became prominent after European introduction in the 15th century, but initially, they were less popular and seen as a lower-class product.
Tobacco Industry Evolution: Cigarettes gained prominence in the early 20th century due to marketing, with significant efforts to associate them with freedom and personal choice.
Health Risks and Marketing: Despite known health risks, marketing strategies, including misleading claims about safety and use of celebrities, helped maintain cigarette popularity.
Regulatory Challenges: Efforts to regulate tobacco advertising and warn about health risks met with resistance from the industry, often shifting tactics to avoid regulation.
Cultural Impact: Cigarettes have influenced various aspects of American culture, from advertising strategies to public perceptions of health risks.
Hierarchical Bullet Points
Introduction
Nostalgia for bubble gum cigarettes and their decline.
Discussion on why cigarettes became symbols of liberty and personal responsibility.
Historical Background
Indigenous Use
Tobacco use among American Indians for rituals, not inhaled.
European Introduction
Tobacco brought to Europe by Columbus.
King James I’s opposition and high taxation on tobacco.
Colonial America
Introduction of tobacco cultivation in Jamestown (1612).
Tobacco's role in building the American economy and its link to slavery.
Evolution of Cigarettes
Early Cigarettes
Initially seen as a lower-class product.
Labor-intensive production.
19th Century Developments
Invention of the friction match and its impact.
Early marketing strategies and collectible cards.
20th Century Marketing and Health Impacts
World War I Influence
Tobacco rations for soldiers and its role in boosting cigarette popularity.
Edward Bernays' Campaigns
Marketing strategies to link smoking with freedom.
Post-War Era
Increased smoking rates and targeted marketing.
The rise of menthol cigarettes and misleading claims about health benefits.
Regulatory and Legal Challenges
Health Studies and Public Perception
Rising awareness of health risks and industry responses.
Advertising Restrictions
The shift in advertising tactics and influence on consumer habits.
Legal Settlements
Master Settlement Agreement and its impact on tobacco advertising.
Cultural and Social Impact
Influence on Media and Culture
Cigarettes as symbols in media and advertising.
Public Health Campaigns
Changes in smoking policies and public attitudes towards smoking.
Overall Theme
The transcript explores the multifaceted history and cultural significance of cigarettes, tracing their evolution from a niche product to a powerful symbol of personal freedom and responsibility. It delves into the origins of tobacco use, the rise of cigarettes in American culture, and the extensive marketing efforts that contributed to their widespread adoption. The narrative highlights how the tobacco industry capitalized on cultural trends and public perceptions, despite growing evidence of health risks. Additionally, it examines the regulatory and legal battles that shaped tobacco advertising and public smoking policies. Overall, the discussion underscores the complex interplay between cultural values, marketing strategies, and public health, revealing how cigarettes became entrenched in American society despite their known dangers.
