On this day, April 1, in 1970

The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act was signed into law by President Richard Nixon attempting to decrease the practice of smoking in the US. The Act required that a Surgeon General's warning be placed on all tobacco products and it also banned cigarette advertisements from American television and radio programming. Unfortunately it was later reported that the health warning labels had little effect on American smoking habits. Also, in response to the ban on TV and radio advertisements, the tobacco industry began to use other marketing strategies in the US such as increased print ads and attractive promotional items. Ironically, despite the 1970's Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, multinational US tobacco companies are one of the world's largest advertisers. And that's just where the addiction begins…