man, male, adult, throat, health, toasted, actor, dancer, Ray BolgerQuote: Cigarettes, like dancing, must be smooth to be really enjoyable. I go for Luckies' fine tobacco!
This Lucky Strike ad features a celebrity endorsement from Broadway star Roy Bolger (1904-1987), but urges the consumer to “let your own taste and throat be the judge!” Bolger played the scarecrow in the classic 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz.” In the movie, he was deathly afraid of fire, but not so in this advertisement! In the ad, he likens dancing to a good cigarette, claiming that both “must be smooth to be really enjoyable.” Smoothness was a code word for healthfulness, and by using this term, the ad created subliminal claims that Lucky Strikes were not harmful cigarettes. The slogan, “There’s never a rough puff in a Lucky,” further solidifies their false claim. Bolger died after suffering from bladder cancer; a study by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), printed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), revealed that at least half of all bladder cancer cases in both men and women are caused by cigarettes. The researchers from the NCI also concluded that smokers are four times more likely to develop bladder cancer than non-smokers.
Actor, Male, Ray Bolger, Singer, Throat
