Dirt Nap City - History's Most Interesting Dead People
Dirt Nap City is the podcast about history's most interesting dead people. In each episode, Alex and Kelly dive into the life of a famous person that you have heard of, but probably don't know much about. Our stories are about actors, entrepreneurs, politicians, musicians, inventors, explorers and more! We also cover things that used to be popular but have fallen out of favor. Things like pet rocks, drive in theaters, Jolt Cola, and many other trends of yesterday make up our "dead ends". But whether we are talking about interesting historical figures or past trends, the show is funny, light-hearted, entertaining, informative and educational. You will definitely learn something new and probably have some laughs along the way. Everyone will eventually move to Dirt Nap City, so why not go ahead and meet the neighbors?
If you love hearing stories from Dirt Nap City, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/DirtNapCityPodcast
If you have comments about the show or suggestions on who we should cover, please email us at not@dirtnapcity.com - we really appreciate you listening!
Dirt Nap City - History's Most Interesting Dead People
Blowin' Smoke - The Wild Era of TV Cigarette Ads
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Before they were swept off the airwaves for good, cigarette commercials ruled American television. From Flintstones puffing on Winston cigarettes to rugged cowboys riding into the sunset, tobacco advertising was a masterclass in pop culture influence. In this episode of Dirt Nap City, we dive into the golden age of TV smoke, how iconic campaigns shaped public perception, and the legal battle that ultimately snuffed them out for good.
Drop us a quick text and we’ll reply in the next episode!
Dirt Nap City is the podcast about the most interesting dead people in history.
Subscribe and listen to learn about people you've heard of, but don't know much about.
Someday we'll all live in Dirt Nap City, so you should probably go ahead and meet the neighbors!
Hey Alex, how you doing, man? Hey buddy, what's going on, Kelly? You know, I'm happy to be here. I was just gonna crack an ice cold Liquid Death.
SPEAKER_02Oh, here we go.
SPEAKER_01Some water refreshment with you. Hmm. Tell you what, that's good stuff. I'm drinking hit water. Which which I threatened. I remember I did kind of go off on Liquid Death because they haven't sponsored us yet. Come on, Liquid Death. If you are watching or listening to this right now, you gotta know that Dirt Knap City, which by the way, we are gonna have a city named after us soon. We're on we're working on that project right now. Liquid Death could be the official refreshment of that city.
SPEAKER_02And we still have 10 Cadillacs that we bought that we're willing to give away.
SPEAKER_01I know they're taking up a lot of space in Alex's driveway. So he's like having to park down the street. And I think the neighbors are complaining at this point, right? I mean, I don't think there's an ordinance about 10 Cadillacs in your driveway and outside of your house, but probably frowned upon.
SPEAKER_02We'd come up with our number faster, our Patreon goal. Yeah, yeah. Let's let's try to get there, folks.
SPEAKER_01Our sales team overpromised on that. I'll tell you what, folks, just just start with 10 bucks. 10 bucks would be a great start. And shout out to our current Patreons. I think we've got Scott, um, I think we've got Baccine. I think we've got Julie. I think we've got Christy. Um, you know, Al from Austin, he's not a Patreon supporter yet. Kind of surprising, huh?
SPEAKER_02Hmm.
SPEAKER_01Three-time guest in character arc.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think uh I think maybe we hold that hold that constant until we get some money from him.
SPEAKER_01Well, I want to talk to you today about something that used to happen but doesn't happen anymore. It's called a dead end. Have you heard of that one?
SPEAKER_02I love those, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Well, this one actually kind of falls in line with something we were talking about on a previous recording. Um, it sort of has to do with television um in the 20th century. Now, there's a lot of things that evolved. Obviously, television started in the 20th century and then kind of evolved from there. But one thing that kind of happened for a while and then disappeared was advertising for cigarettes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, you can't do that anymore, right?
SPEAKER_01You can't. And I want to talk about um kind of what that was all about and why they stopped doing it. Now, I mean, why they stopped doing it might sound pretty obvious, but nobody from our generation, I don't think, you know, we might have seen a couple of these, but it's not something that's everyday to us. Like we could probably name all kinds of ads that we see all the time and remember the taglines and stuff like that. But back in kind of the early 20th century, a lot of tobacco companies started selling brand names. So this was a big shift. Tobacco had at one point just been sort of a commodity. It was kind of like like grapes or um uh you know, uh corn on the cob or something like that. It was just a plant that was grown. And people would buy tobacco and they would smoke it and they would chew it. But then these big tobacco companies started coming up with brands. Wait, so you would buy it like produce or tobacco? You would buy tobacco like produce. You would just, it wasn't necessarily in the produce section, but you would just buy a bag of tobacco, right? Or a little can of tobacco. It didn't, it didn't, it wasn't a and you rolled your own cigarettes or you you um made your own way of of um getting the buzz or the getting the whatever you get from tobacco, um, either through smoking it or through dipping it or chewing it or whatever. Tobacco was a commodity, is what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03Sure, sure, sure.
SPEAKER_01So these companies they started coming up with um different ways to market their brands as the brands became more and more prevalent. Um 1929, they actually came up with a campaign called Torches of Freedom. Uh have you heard of that? Whose day? Uh this might have been Philip Morris.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01And they were talking about um uh uh it was a guy named Edward Benays, Bernays. He actually had women smoking in the New York City Easter parade in 1929, and he wanted to show that uh women could smoke too. They were famously targeting women in the 1920s because of the flapper movement, because of obviously the um suffrage movement. Women were becoming uh more and more equal citizens at that point, and smoking was considered taboo for women back then, and then they wanted to say that women who were smoking were holding torches of freedom.
SPEAKER_02And back then, didn't people like they like classy people didn't actually hold the cigarette than they have like cigarette holders?
SPEAKER_01They had little cigarette holders, they had it out here.
SPEAKER_02Um, and and you you know, you think of the classic roach clips uh sound a lot more uh uh less classy than cigarette holders.
SPEAKER_01I I I don't think it was a roach clip though. I think it was uh it was a probably made of some kind of bone, you know. They were usually like ivory or or or um china or some sort of porcelain. Like FDR, right, would always have one of those, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they they go well, they pair well with a monocle, I think, and a top hat.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, or or or a boa and feathers for a woman, right? The the flapper. Sure. Well, they also, you know, a lot of um companies sort of maybe it was the association of of uh tobacco growers and cigarette sellers, they also tried to um actually promote cigarettes as not necessarily healthy, but some people even did say they were healthy or they were more healthy than some alternatives. They would say that doctors, um, certain brands of cigarettes, there the most doctors smoke this brand of cigarettes, or this cigarette is supposed to be low tar, so it's not quite as bad for you, or it helps you maintain your weight, which actually I think is true because it is a stimulant. Uh well, this was all happening before uh TV, really. This these were these were done on radio, much like we were talking about before with Candid Camera. Um, these were early radio things that were going on, or live events, or precursors to you'd go to the movie theater, and they'd have one of these commercials that would play in the movie theater. Now, one of the most famous was from Philip Morris, and it was an advertisement featuring a bellboy character named Johnny Roventini. Roventini. And he would shout out to the audience, call for Philip Morris. Have you heard of this? No. Well, let me let me play you the clip. And by the way, this kid uh in this clip, this is actually from one that they played in movie theaters, so it is a video. Um, he looked like he's about 12.
SPEAKER_00Only the beginning, folks. Wait to see what's coming up next. And just a reminder for a good time, any time, right up Philip Morris. And remember this the Philip Morris smoke will really get what other smokers only hope to get. Perfect smoking pleasure. So for perfect smoking pleasure, and for perfect entertainment, well, just look what's coming.
SPEAKER_01So I think that was um what they would play before you know, before a movie in a theater. That was one of the ads that would play in the movie.
SPEAKER_02That's kind of their like their Ricola, their uh audio logo, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. It's it's something that well, no, it was it was a video. It's a kid in a bellboy outfit. Um, but I guess people were allowed to smoke in theaters back then. That was not out of the out of the question. People would sit there and watch a movie and and smoke. Um, the kid has kind of a lisp. I don't know if you noticed that.
SPEAKER_02I kind of and I love a kid with a thick like Brooklyn or Bronx accent. Yeah, you can't beat that. Now, were children was there were children allowed to smoke back then? Like was was there an uh age restriction on smoking?
SPEAKER_01I think there was. I I think it might have been 16 or 18. It may have been a state-by-state thing, kind of like alcohol. But there weren't many companies that were marketing to kids until uh 1961. Guess who bought the rights to the Flintstones? Oh RJ Reynolds bought the rights to the Flintstones in 1961. And so they um originally, in fairness, the Flintstones were a primetime show that were aimed at an adult audience, but it was a cartoon, and cartoons were traditionally kids.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we talked about this in the Hanna Barbera episode, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Yep, yep. Well, so 1961, RJ Reynolds buys the rights, and they start start running commercials like like uh this one about uh featuring the Flintstone smoking. Now that sound is uh Betty or Wilma mowing the grass, and that sound is Betty or Wilma doing sports.
SPEAKER_04I hate to see them work so hard.
SPEAKER_03Specially selected. Specially selective?
SPEAKER_02Well, that puts Joe Campbell to shame, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01Well, it it really was crossing the line, right? Because a lot of kids did watch the Flintstones, and it it was that was one of the most cited things, uh cited ad campaigns that the government used when they shut down advertising. Now, in addition to going for kids, um they also, these tobacco companies, they also kind of wanted people to become uh associated with these more rugged people, like the Marlborough man. You remember the Marlboro romance?
SPEAKER_02Um Yeah, I don't, yeah, but I don't remember it as a TV commercial. That was probably before us, but I remember all the magazine ads for sure.
SPEAKER_01Well, this this was a masculine guy. He was a cowboy, he rode a horse. He was kind of maybe in some place like Wyoming riding along. And I'm gonna play this commercial for you. Now, it's a lot of music in this commercial, but I just want you to hear the opening and the closing, and I want you to hear, and I'm gonna describe what's going on in some of these shots. 50 head of cattle stranded out there.
SPEAKER_06You gotta get them home.
SPEAKER_01So the man lights up a cigarette, hops on his horse, and goes galloping out to save this 50 head of cattle. And while he's riding in a perfect canter or a perfect trot and roping these horses, he's got a marlboro in his mouth. He's wearing uh leather, he's wearing a hat, he's wearing cowboy boots, the cows are all perfectly in line. And oh, wait, there's another cowboy with a cigarette in his mouth, and another one, and another one. They're all smoking marlbros as they're out roping in the fresh air.
SPEAKER_0650 of the cattle and come to where the flavor is. Come to Marlboro Country.
SPEAKER_01Very effective. And at the end of the day, all 50 cattle got home safely.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. With second hand, with secondhand uh smoke.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, what what happened? Um, a couple things happened. First of all, with the Flintstones, um, in addition to laws and a lot of uh social outcry about this cartoon promoting smoking, um, in 1963, uh several years into the series, um, Wilma got pregnant. And remember Pebbles? Remember her daughter? You remember Barney's son's name?
SPEAKER_02Bam Bam.
SPEAKER_01Bam Bam, yeah, Pebbles and Bam Bam. Um well when Pebbles was born, they started really changing the tone of the show to be a little bit more geared towards children and family friendly. So they switched over to sponsors like Welch's grape juice. And then you remember the biggest uh consumer thing to come out of the Flintstones? Vitamins. Yeah, the Flintstone vitamins. Um, so so this was a little bit of a transition starting to happen in in the 1960s. Um in 1964, the Surgeon General determined that smoking was and came out and said smoking is is causes cancer, causes all these issues. And then in 1967, the FCC came out with a thing called the Fairness Doctrine. And the fairness doctrine was something that said for every commercial a network runs about smoking or about something like that, they had to run one, a public service announcement or a PSA that talked about how dangerous it could be. So that's when those PSAs started. Remember any non-smoking PSAs?
SPEAKER_02So that was uh so wait, who was running those?
SPEAKER_01So so the FCC would review these, um review these, but the the network, they would review this content, this this um this counterpoint to the smoking cigarettes that are smoking advertisements. The network was responsible for produ writing, producing, paying for, and and showing these PSAs to counteract the um it was basically to sew the other side of the coin.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, isn't that the same thing that requires equal time for politicians as well?
SPEAKER_01Um well, it was abolished in '87, but um at the time it was supposed to be, I don't know if it applies to politicians, although it might. If you're doing one party, you have to do the other. This said that any controversial issue of public importance had to present contrasting points of view in a balanced and equitable manner. So in 1967, it was determined that the cigarette commercials were a controversial issue and that they had to run, the the networks would have to run at their own cost, public service announcements that were anti-smoking. And so this actually was pretty effective in dropping the amount of cigarette sales. And the tobacco industry felt like, hmm, this isn't going to be great for us because even though we're running these commercials of Marlboro men and you know, flapper smoking and whatever else, when when you start giving all these facts about cancer and about uh death and and all the things that cigarettes can do to you, it's not good for us. So in 1971, when Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969, um, basically limiting or eliminating the ability to advertise on radio and television, the networks or the um the tobacco companies weren't that upset because that also eliminated the need to make these PSAs. Got it. So the first or the final, the final cigarette commercial aired on American television in 1971. And then um the advertising kind of shifted. So now, like today, what do you think of as one of the biggest um cigarette advertising platforms?
SPEAKER_02Oh wow. Um wow, I that's a good question. Probably billboards. I was gonna say billboards, but I don't know if I can picture a cigarette billboard. Like I just don't see advertising for cigarettes anymore.
SPEAKER_01Well, for for a long time you did after the ban, but also magazine ads. I mean, if you're looking in the magazines anymore. Well, that's true. Um, also NASCAR.
SPEAKER_02NASCAR and that stopped too. I mean, they used to have the Winston Cup and they changed the name of that. Like, you don't see like I think 20 years ago, you're right, there were magazines and billboards and NASCAR, but man, a lot of those have gone away. I just can't picture, like, I don't think yeah, I I it's it's really funny because I don't even know if I can picture brands of cigarettes anymore. Like, there's just like if it's one of those if you know, you know kind of things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I I do think that I do think that especially with uh vaping and the things that have kind of evolved from traditional cigarettes, it it's become less prevalent. But I can definitely imagine opening a magazine and seeing a um you know a rugged-looking man on a jet ski smoking a cigarette with a beautiful woman behind him. You know, that that's still I think that still happens. But you're right, magazines aren't as prevalent, right? You you you only see them in doctor's offices.
SPEAKER_02Do you remember do you remember back when like in the 80s, the Marlborough Points? Remember the whole thing where you could like smoke enough. If you smoked enough, you acquire points and you could buy stuff with the points. You could buy like everything from beach towels to like car radios. And remember?
SPEAKER_01It was like serial box tops, but uh, but for cigarettes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the more you smoked, the more I mean, think about how messed up that is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Well, um now today, under FDA regulations, cigarette packs and advertisements have to display um warnings. Now you've seen the you you can picture what these warnings look like, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01There's like four different kinds. There's 11. 11. There's 11, 11 different warnings. Um, and there are rules about them. They have to be um like take up 20% of the surface area of the top of the package. And and um, like they the colors have to be certain ones. Um they they basically make them so that they're pretty prevalent on them. But I'll I'll I'll just quickly go through the 11. Uh, warning, tobacco smoke can harm your children. Warning, tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in non-smokers. Warning, smoking causes head and neck cancer. Warning, smoking causes bladder cancer, we can lead to bloody urine. Warning, smoking during pregnancy stunts fetal growth. Warning, smoking can cause heart disease and strokes by clogging arteries. Warning, smoking causes COPD, a lung disease that can be fatal. Warning, smoking reduces blood flow to the limbs, which can require amputation. Warning, smoking causes type 2 diabetes, which raises blood sugar. Warning, smoking causes cataracts, which can lead to blindness. And then my favorite, warning, smoking reduces blood flow, which can cause erectile dysfunction.
SPEAKER_02Are those just randomly inserted into the packs or is there a strategy about that?
SPEAKER_01Um, I I don't know what the regulations are about that. Um, maybe it has to do with where they're advertising it or but um or or where the packs are being sold. I don't know. But yeah, I mean, I guess you could just always go with the ED one and and just target women, right? They don't care. So uh it's it's um it's something that is has been obviously there's a lot of lobbyists that that fight for tobacco companies and try to um uh appeal and get things repealed, but they're ultimately trying to make people aware. You know, it's not that you don't have the right or the freedom to smoke, it's just that if you choose to, you should know all the facts. And that's something that the Flintstones never did.
SPEAKER_02What about other countries? Are we are are we ahead of the curve or behind the curve? Can you go to other countries and see cigarette commercials on TV?
SPEAKER_01I don't think they're allowed on television anywhere. I don't think I don't think I think that became uh something that the European Union and you know, I don't know much about the regulations over there, but it seems like this is sort of a globally accepted thing because health healthcare people, I mean it's it's one of those things where it's like, okay, you can sell the product, just make sure people understand what they're buying. You know, it's it's up to it's up to this person if they're gonna smoke or not, but they should at least know that even though more doctors smoke this type of cigarettes. It doesn't mean it's healthy. You know, or even though it says low tar, it doesn't mean it's healthy.
SPEAKER_02But I'm also guessing, and these companies are, you know, have billions of dollars in revenue. I'm guessing they still have marketing dollars and they probably got shifted to developing countries in Asia and Latin America rather than just, you know. I'm sure we're I'm sure I'm sure whatever can be done, they're doing it. Whatever they're allowed to do, they're doing it. Yeah. And then pushing an envelope a little more.
SPEAKER_01And and and ultimately, too, um uh vaping, right? I mean, that's I I don't think many young people are taking up smoking these days. I think they're if they're taking up something, they're taking up vaping.
SPEAKER_02I don't know anything about vaping. Do they have brands as well?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. But they're and they're all owned by tobacco companies. So I think Joule J-U-L-E is a big one. You've probably heard of that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, and they're and they're targeting very young kids. And they're also targeting it as um less dangerous than smoking because fewer carcinogenics, uh less but it's still very addictive and still very bad for you.
SPEAKER_02But not secondhand.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I don't know if uh secondhand vape has hasn't a problem. Is it just water? Isn't it just water vapor? It could be. That's a that's a good point. It it's probably a step in the right direction um from from what smoking was, but ultimately, I guess, you know, whether you decide to smoke or vape or whatever, that's not up to us. It's up to you, it's up to each person. Um, just teach people, educate people, and make sure people are informed, and don't don't advertise to kids. That would be my main takeaway from this.
SPEAKER_02It is my wish that one of these days we can do a dead end on pharmaceutical commercials.
SPEAKER_01That would be that would be good. And then would we have to run all the disclaimers at the end of the dead end?
SPEAKER_02May May cause bloody stool, may cause uh I think if it wasn't for those though, you wouldn't have any commercials. I swear it's all maybe it's just old people shows that I watch, but man, is there a lot of them?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are a lot of them. Well, that's uh advertising cigarettes on TV. If uh if you enjoyed this and you're still not living in Dirt Knap City, but you are interested in Dirt Knap City, please consider uh subscribing, consider supporting us on Patreon, and we'll see you next time on Dirt Knap City, the podcast about interesting dead people.
SPEAKER_05Saturday haze, Saturday haze in a cardboard sky, inkling grin and a wink of eye. The Flintstones laugh through a smoky frame. Like every living room knew the name. Marlboro man on a desert ride, boots in dust and a lonesome pride, rugged and still with a squinting stare, but selling a habit like it was there. Back when the tube ran bright, and the ash curl up in white. Kids in the room, grown folks nearby. Watching the old world passers by. Then the lost came down and the habit thin. Fred and Barney with a paper flame. Funny little gestures, same old game. A dinosaur grin and a stamped out joke. While the whole damn country watched them. Smoke and the rules got sharp, the frames went clean. The bitch got very domestic screen. No more glam in a curling line. Just an old bad promise left behind. The button got pressed too late for the lungs and the kids they shake. What look so cool on a painted set? Faded out, but we remember it. Smoke off screen, smoke off screen. Cartoon Kings and cowboy dreams. Smoke off screen, smoke off screen. Then the loss came down and the habit fent.
SPEAKER_06Now the reels feel strange and small. Like a ghost in a commercial hall. What they sold as charm and grace Left a cover truth in its place.
SPEAKER_05Smoke on screen, smoke on screen. Flintstones laughing through the beams. Smoke on screen, smoke on screen. Marlborough man rides off a TV dream. Outlaw now, like a battle ski.
