A selection of the Center’s extensive collection of national and local TV news coverage of tobacco-related issues from the 1970s to the present, vintage cigarette TV commercials, early anti-smoking public service announcements (unpaid media), and offbeat documentaries on the tobacco industry and anti-smoking activism by DOC (Doctors Ought to Care) and other advocacy groups.
DOC purchases space on bus benches for brand-name satirical anti-smoking messages (01:22)
Bob Jackson
WTVJ-TV Channel 4, Miami
September 1977
Debate between Alan Blum, MD and Brennan Dawson of the Tobacco Institute on the harms from exposure to secondhand smoke (04:15)
CBS This Morning with Paula Zahn
January 6, 1993
DOC’s Superhealth ’79 Conference for South Florida junior high school students aimed at exposing advertising techniques for unhealthy products aimed at teenagers (01:28)
Gloria Albino
WCIX-TV Channel 6, Miami
December 1978
News story on the SuperHealth ’79 Conference’s exposé of the advertising of the “killer habits”–smoking, drinking, poor nutrition–to teenagers and children (01:27)
Al Sunshine
WTVJ-TV Channel 4, Miami
December 1978
DOC pioneers in the purchase of anti-smoking advertising satirizing cigarette brand names and slogans, as explained by Dr. Rick Richards at a conference sponsored by the American Lung Association (01:42)
Gail Westrop
Healthcast TV news story
KXTV Channel 10, Sacramento
Circa 1990
“You’ve coughed up long enough, baby” (0:22)
Mississippi DOC TV counter-advertisement by Dr. Tom Houston
1980
“I don’t smoke, and I got money” (0:14)
Georgia DOC TV counter-advertisement by Dr. Rick Richards
1980
“One hack and one wheeze”: The smoking customer’s request for a pack of light cigarettes (0:32)
Georgia DOC anti-smoking TV counter-advertisement by Dr. Rick Richards, inspired by a cartoon by Wayne Stayskal
1980
“Smokers have got nobody to love” (0:32)
Washington DOC TV musical counter-advertisement by Dr. Bob Jaffe
1981
“Please don’t smoke, baby” (0:29)
Washington DOC TV musical anti-smoking counter-advertisement by Dr. Bob Jaffe
1981
“You’re all grown up” (00:29)
Washington DOC TV anti-smoking counter-advertisement by Dr. Bob Jaffe
1981
“Expect a glare or two when you chew” and other TV counter-advertisements against smokeless tobacco (02:16)
Cedar Rapids DOC
1986
DOC’s housecall on the Virginia Slims tennis tournament in Hollywood, Florida (01:20)
Bob Jackson
WTVJ-TV Channel 4, Miami
January 1978
First in-depth radio interview with Dr. Alan Blum about DOC’s origins and goals (14:30)
FOCUS 96.5
WFMR, Milwaukee
(Images added by the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society)
1980
“Sports & Cigarettes: Striking Out Against Tobacco” (50:00)
Keynote presentation by Alan Blum, MD at the First National Conference on Tobacco Use in America,
MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
January 27, 1988
DOC Housecall on Red Man Promotion (01:48)
TV News Story
Augusta, Georgia
Circa 1988
Feature Story on DOC (03:52)
The Today Show
Eric Burns
1980
DOC, “The Medicine Man vs. the Marlboro Man” (02:32)
WMAQ-TV (NBC) News Story
Carol Marin
1980
African-Americans and Smoking (03:26)
CBS Evening News Story
Bob Faw
Circa 1985
Dr. Bob Arnot on African-Americans and Smoking (05:01)
CBS Evening News Story
Circa 1985
Oakland artist Doug Minkler teaching schoolchildren to create DOC counter-advertisements (04:16)
San Francisco TV News Story
1986
Sui-Genocide: The Killing of Minority Groups by the Tobacco Industry (56:12)
Plenary presentation by Alan Blum, MD
Second National Symposium on Minorities and Cancer
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas
1988
The Ballad of McSmoke (The King) & Nikki Teen (10:43)
Dooctors Ought to Care rap video by Mario Giacone
Produced by Alan Herschenfeld, MD
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
1989
“Alan had the inspiration to create a song to immunize kids against tobacco advertising and the insight to find a rap musician named Spongee Gee, who also did ‘Crack is Whack.’ My role was assistant producer and executive sponsor. Basically, Alan did everything and only needed me to solve problems such as printing the fundraising letters, getting the mailing lists (from Joe Cherner [founder of Smoke-Free Educational Services] and Edith Ewenstein [with the American Lung Association]), and I handled the post production logistics and fulfillment. I also had the honor to speak with the author Issac Asimov, who signed our fundraising letter. Alan, who went on to work as a pediatric endocrinologist focused on diabetes, passed away in 20078 at age 47.”
— Edward Anselm, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Excerpts of Medicine vs. Madison Avenue: Fighting Smoke with Fire:
Comments by DeLoyd Parker and Juan Palomo on the targeting of the African American and Hispanic communities by cigarette advertisers (01:30)
Video by Eric Solberg and Alan Blum, MD
Doctors Ought to Care
1994
“Alive with Pleasure, Dead with Disease
A History of Cigarette Marketing Targeted to African Americans” (1:24:32)
Keynote presentation by Alan Blum, MD
Arkansas Department of Health state-wide conference,
“Clearing the Air in Communities of Color”
May 17, 2011
Story on DOC advertisement that was censored by The New York Times (02:07)
WABC-TV New York
1985
Secondhand Smoke Debate (04:15)
Paula Zahn moderating debate between Alan Blum, MD and Brennan Dawson of the Tobacco Institute
CBS This Morning
1993
Surgeon General’s Report on Cigarettes and Commercials
Highlights of 1964 Surgeon General’s Report and Commercials
“Stamping Out Smoking:
For a U.S. postage stamp to honor Surgeon General Luther L. Terry” (05:32)
Video by Samuel Blum
Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society
2008
Medicine vs. Madison Avenue (25:18)
DOC Video
1994
Blowing Smoke (23:27)
CSTS Video
2013
Smoke That Cigarette (12:50)
DOC Video
1986
“When More Doctors Smoked Camels” (15:07)
Gallery Tour by Alan Blum, MD of an Exhibition at the Gorgas Library of the University of Alabama Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Surgeon General’s Report
Video by the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society
2014
50th Anniversary of the Publication of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health
Highlights of the Symposium at Gorgas Library
October 2013
Harry Reasoner Special on the Surgeon General’s Report
CBS Reports
1964
“Smoking–A health hazard of sufficient importance”
CBS News Special Report
1964
“THE WAR OF WORDS DOWN UNDER” (26:36)
Documentary on BUGA-Up (Billboard Utilizing Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions), other Australian anti-smoking activism
QED
1983
Multipart national news story on the progress and setbacks in efforts to end the smoking pandemic in the 25 years since the publication of the Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health, highlighting the study by Drs. Paul Fischer and Rick Richards in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that showed the failure of teenagers and adults to recognize or recall warning labels in cigarette ads (“The Eye-Tracking Study”) (6:03)
ABC Evening News
January 11, 1989
“Your Drug Store and Cancer Center” (2:25)
Video by Roswell Park Cancer Institute about the mock pharmacy walk-through installation created by Alan Blum, MD at the Buffalo Museum of Science, satirizing the sale of cigarettes by drugstore chains such as Walgreens and CVS
November 2009
Dr. Heather Hoffman Reports on “Your Drug Store and Cancer Center” installation at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health (02:28)
Phoenix
2008
Tobacco Industry Sponsorship of the Arts (05:26)
Investigative TV News Stories
“City Under Siege,” Reporter Ned Hibberd
Fox News at Nine
KRIV-TV (FOX) Channel 26
Houston, Texas
July 1995
Cigarette Billboard Ban in Texas (04:00)
Investigative TV News Story
“City Under Siege,” Reporter Ned Hibberd
Fox News at Nine
KRIV-TV (FOX) Channel 26
Houston, Texas
July 1995
Tobacco Industry Funds Research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (07:07)
Investigative TV News Story
“City Under Siege,” Reporter Ned Hibberd
Fox News at Nine
KRIV-TV (FOX) Channel 26
Houston, Texas
July 1995
Excerpt of larger story: Philip Morris pressures arts organizations in New York City to lobby against anti-smoking laws (01:07)
Investigative TV News Story
“City Under Siege,” Reporter Ned Hibberd
Fox News at Nine
KRIV-TV (FOX) Channel 26
Houston, Texas
July 1995
“Through with Chew” (00:58)
News story about a statewide Alabama initiative to reduce smokeless tobacco consumption, with comment by Alan Blum, MD
WVUA-TV, Tuscaloosa
2019
Alan Blum, M.D., Director
205-348-2886
ablum@ua.edu
© Copyright - The Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society
This website uses cookies to collect information to improve your browsing experience. Please review our Privacy Statement for more information.