One of the results of decades of anti-smoking brainwashing is that today, many people find old cigarette ads humorous. Many find it hard to believe there was a time when you could open a magazine or flip on a television and see one. They had cigarette ads back then–how abnormal.
This is part of what anti-smokers call “de-normalization.” The idea is to take something which makes smoking appear normal (which it is), and make as many people as possible think it’s abnormal (which it isn’t). Advertisements are an obvious target: people see them all the time. Once you get rid of them, you can continue on to de-normalize the next most “logical” things: first the industry which created the ads, followed by any display of the product (such as in movies), followed by banning public use of the product, followed by attacks against those who use the product.
It has worked pretty well. Today, those who are ignorant of the process mock not only the ads, but smokers by proxy. And they think they’re smart in doing so.
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