Tobacco Facts.

A retrospective of tobacco advertising on display at LSU Health Sciences Center’s medical library, “Not a Cough in a Carload,” shows tobacco companies’ commitment to cultivating new smokers.

The exhibit, on loan from Stanford University, is free and open to the public during regular business hours. It will be at the library through the summer.

By the early 20th century, there was research linking smoking with health problems, so the tobacco industry launched an advertising campaign to counter that information, said Marianne Comegys, head of the medical library.

The battle between tobacco companies and the medical world still rages. In May, a federal appeals court upheld a 2006 ruling that puts stricter requirements on tobacco advertising. The ruling bans labels like “ultra light” and “mild” and requires tobacco companies to publish statements about the health effects and addictiveness of smoking in newspapers and on their Web sites.

There’s no word on whether the cigarette companies will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Deidra Woodson, a librarian who worked on hanging the exhibit, pointed out reproductions of ads that showed smiling, fatherly doctors holding cigarettes. The tobacco companies used the images to reassure people that smoking was safe, or even healthy.

However, research conducted when the exhibit was created showed that no doctors ever actually endorsed smoking, Woodson said.

However, Hollywood stars and even athletes signed endorsement deals starting in the 1920s. The exhibit includes a copy of an endorsement letter signed by Sylvester Stallone in 1983.

Every age group was a target of tobacco advertising. One section of the exhibit shows ads picturing youngsters.

“The tobacco companies referred to youth as their ‘replacement smokers,’” Woodson said.

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