The first Mad Men episode displays difficulties ad companies faced when studies started showing that cigarettes are, you know, terrible. Of course Don Draper saves the day for his own firm with campaign talking about how nice and toasty tobacco is (see above). Other companies also went to great lengths to try and convince the public that cigarettes were still swell. Watch some ridiculous ads (including a Flintsones one!) and check out a photo gallery of more after the cut!


Does it weird you out to see classic, wholesome cartoon characters smoking? And not just that, but the motives behind showing this on a kids’ show kind of makes my skin crawl. Don’t even get me started on the historical inaccuracies in this clip, by golly. I mean, everyone knows that the earliest evidence of cigarettes only dates back to the 9th century. It’s just all so very wrong!


Oh good, more cartoon characters. Being the youngster that I am, I never really saw the controversy surrounding Joe Camel, but I always thought that banning him for being animated was absurd. These old ads, however, show that yeah, animated cigarette spots were probably definitely shooting for kids. It’s almost as icky as smoking itself!


What in the world is going on here? Do Newports make you hallucinate beautiful women coming out of your TV? How creepy is the look he gives that beach bunny in the end? Is the actress in the commercial the same one as the woman on the stairs who calls him “daddy”? Does smoking Newports lead to taboo fantasies? There’s just so very much to consider.

Have you seen any weird smoking ads? What do you think of the ones here?