Old Gold lowest in Nicotine and Throat Irritating Tars and Resins.
This advertisement reads like an investigate news story, with the headline, “Old Gold lowest in Nicotine and Throat-Irritating Tars and Resins.” This information is attributed to Reader’s Digest tests from “a scientific testing laboratory.” With this claim, Lorillard presents Old Gold as the healthiest of seven leading cigarette brands. In fact, the Reader’s Digest test in question reported that there were no significant differences in nicotine and tar levels among the seven leading brands; However, the article did present a graph which showed marginal differences, of which Old Gold took advantage. Eleven months later, Reader’s Digest fought back, printing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaints that “the actual difference between the average amount of nicotine in an Old Gold and in two other brands was one-177,000th of an ounce.”
Cough, Irritation, Nicotine, Tar, Throat
