Cigarettes
These cigarette ads from yesteryear are shocking. Perhaps one day our descendants will be equally shocked when they look at present day ads for betting and gambling organisations. I hope so. Imagine sending your loved ones packs of cigarettes for Christmas! That's like sending them time bombs or vials of deadly viruses. But of course back then they didn't know better did they? Actually, "they" - the tobacco companies did know better - but they suppressed the health information as they wanted to keep the money rolling in. Often, through different forms of bribery, they were secretly in league with leading politicians. I confess that I smoked cigarettes from 1974 to 1988 - fourteen years and for most of those years it was twenty a day. Looking back, I can hardly believe how stupid I was to take up that disgusting habit. However, I haven't smoked a single cigarette in the last thirty six years and that makes me feel rather better about myself. This is how ...