How To Advertise Cigarettes

Buyer beware: cigarette companies, no longer allowed to use words like “light” or “mild” to advertise, are turning to the psychology of colors to “reframe” the hazards of smoking. “One needn’t watch ‘Mad Men’ to know all that goes into hiding or avoiding or, as today’s ad executives might call it, “reframing” the perils of smoking,” says syndicated columnist Meghan Daum. “But one also needn’t be a tobacco lobbyist to see that as long as cigarettes are legal, companies should be allowed to provide some indication as to how one type of product differs from another.”