BALLYHOO and MAD Magazine
- A major inspiration for this exhibition was MAD Magazine. First published by William Gaines as a comic book in 1952, MAD, originally edited by Harvey Kurtzman then by Al Feldstein from 1957 to 1985, was the spiritual successor to BALLYHOO, a humor magazine (published on and off between 1931 and 1954) aimed at a college-age readership. BALLYHOO was one of the first periodicals to publish trenchant parodies of cigarette advertisements.
- After converting to a magazine in 1955, MAD continued this tradition, parodying cigarette advertising and mocking the tobacco industry for decades while most print media, including The New York Times, TIME Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Newsweek courted tobacco companies for their lucrative cigarette advertising dollars in full-page ads in theUS Tobacco and Candy Journal, an industry trade magazine.
- MAD, which did not accept advertising in its eight issues a year from 1957 to 2001, ridiculed the industry’s health claims for cigarette filters, weak warning labels on cigarette packs, and tobacco industry executives who testified in Congress that nicotine is not addictive. At its peak in 1974, MAD achieved a circulation of 2.1 million. The rise of the internet deeply cut into print magazine readership. MAD ceased publication in 2018.
BALLYHOO
For the “Occasion” Smoker
Parody
BALLYHOO
October, 1931
Hesterfield
Parody
BALLYHOO
November, 1931
Snarlboro
Parody
BALLYHOO
December, 1931
Cream of the Crop
Advertisement, Lucky Strike cigarettes
American Tobacco Company
1932
Cream of the Crap
Parody
BALLYHOO
January, 1932
Scremo Cigars
Parody
BALLYHOO
December, 1931
“Ducky Wuckies are the Nerts”
Parody
BALLYHOO
January, 1932
Snarlboro
Parody
BALLYHOO
February, 1932
Old Gold’s Pledge to Contestants
Advertisement, Old Gold cigarettes
P. Lorillard Company
May, 1937
Old Gold Contest
Letter
P. Lorillard Company
May, 1937
Old Colds
Parody
BALLYHOO
July, 1932
MAD Magazine
You would be one of my top choices for a Nobel Prize in Medicine
Letter
Alan Blum to William M Gaines, Publisher, MAD Magazine
October 29, 1985
MAD Magazine an inspiration for tackling the smoking pandemic among adolescents
Letter
Alan Blum to William M Gaines, Publisher, MAD Magazine
April 24, 1985
Men of America The Skid-Row Bums
Parody
MAD Magazine
1959
Parliamatch
Parody
MAD Magazine
October, 1959
Some MAD Devices for Safer Smoking
Satire
MAD Magazine
December, 1964
Why Not Warnings on All Packages!
Satire
MAD Magazine
December, 1964
The MAD Non-Smokers Hate Book
Satire
MAD Magazine
July, 1971
The Great Cigarette Filter Tip War (2 pages)
Cartoon
MAD Magazine
June, 1964
The Tobacco Industry
Cartoon
MAD Magazine
October, 1979
When You’re Dying For A Cigarette
Cartoon
MAD Magazine
1968
Six Minutes Looks At Smoking (3 pages)
Satire
MAD Magazine
January, 1990
CHOKE Magazine
Satire
MAD Magazine
September, 1990
You’re the only doctor I know who still smokes
Cartoon
MAD Magazine
March, 1990
Some straight Talk about selling cigarettes to a hostile public.
Parody
MAD Magazine
Summer, 1991
MAD Interviews the Tobacco Executive of the Year (3 pages)
Satire
MAD Magazine
December, 1995
The Tomb of the Unknown Smoker
Satire
MAD Magazine
August, 1995
MAD‘s Great Moments in Advertising
Parody
MAD Magazine
August, 1995
The Tobacco Industry’s Secret Marketing Plans for Attracting Young Smokers
Satire
MAD Magazine
November, 1996
Cigar Addictionado
Parody
MAD Magazine
June, 1998
Only A True Cigar Lover
Parody
MAD Magazine
June, 1998