When “More Doctors Smoked Camels”
Medical Claims in Cigarette Advertisments, 1888-1988
“When ‘More Doctors Smoked Camels’: Medical Claims in Cigarette Advertisements, 1888-1988” is an exhibition by Alan Blum, MD initially presented at the Jones Library, Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas from November 1988 through February 1989.
The exhibition takes its name from a heavily run ad campaign from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company which proclaimed, “More Doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.”
The artifacts in the exhibition represent the manner in which tobacco companies utilized advertising to subvert medical evidence and opinion through influence. Ironically many cigarette companies advertised their brands as the least irritating on the throat or as having a “cool” smoke even though they fervently denied any connection between smoking and health for decades.
Forthcoming
November through February, 1988-89 in Houston, Texas
For webpage:
Blum A. When “More Doctors Smoked Camels”. Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society. https://csts.ua.edu/exhibitions/1988-camels/. Published March 7, 2017.
For exhibition:
Blum, A. When ‘More Doctors Smoked Camels’: Medical Claims in Cigarette Advertisements, 1888-1988. Exhibition installation, Texas Medical Center Library, Houston, Texas. 1988-89.
Dr. Alan Blum, MD
Professor and Gerald Leon Wallace, MD, Endowed Chair in Family Medicine
College of Community Health Sciences
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
(205) 348-2169