I recently came across this Gallery of Graphic Design which is an archive of magazine advertising from 1930 through 1969. There are hundreds of high-quality scans of ads for practically every sort of product imaginable.
I found the cigarette ad below (from 1956) where one of the enthusiastic endorsers is Claire Chennault, a noted Air Force general who says (in the words of the ad copywriter, no doubt) that he's smoked Camels for over forty years: "They're so rich, yet smoke so mild!"
On a hunch, I Googled General Chennault, and found Chennault wherein we find:
Edited to add: The actor Brian Keith, who's also in the ad, committed suicide in 1997 while suffering from emphysema and lung cancer.
I found the cigarette ad below (from 1956) where one of the enthusiastic endorsers is Claire Chennault, a noted Air Force general who says (in the words of the ad copywriter, no doubt) that he's smoked Camels for over forty years: "They're so rich, yet smoke so mild!"
On a hunch, I Googled General Chennault, and found Chennault wherein we find:
He died of lung cancer in 1958 after the removal of most of one lung the previous year. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery (Section 2, 873).
Edited to add: The actor Brian Keith, who's also in the ad, committed suicide in 1997 while suffering from emphysema and lung cancer.
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