Alive with pleasure. Newport Lights. All out taste. Nothing halfway about it. Merit. Winston. America's Best. Players go places. You've come a long way, baby. Virginia Slim Lights. The proof is all around us. Now. Spoil yourself with Satin. Salem Slim Lights. One beautiful menthol. One beautiful box. One refreshing slim 100. There's only one way to play it...Kool. Marlboro Lights. The spirit of Marlboro in a low tar cigarette. Benson & Hedges. Deluxe Ulta Lights. Only 6mg, yet rich enough to be called deluxe. Lighten up! With low tar Belair. The pleasure is back. Barclay. It's more you. More. Eve Lights. The first thing you notice is taste. Carlton is lowest.

All of these creative slogans were attached to equally attractive advertisements in recent national magazines. The pictures and slogans promised a wide variety of benefits. Health, attractiveness, the beauty of nature and sophis­tication. No two ads offered quite the same appeal. In fact, the only part of the advertise­ment that they all shared in common was: "Warning: The Surgeon General Has Deter­mined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous To Your Health." It is only fitting that this is the only promise displayed unanimously by all cigarette promotions. It is the only true statement in any of them.

Tobacco companies spend close to one billion dollars a year promoting what they claim to be a pleasurable, innocuous American institution, cigarettes. What they are promoting is better described by the U.S. Surgeon General as "slow-motion suicide." They are promoting death. They are promoting mass addiction. It once caught you. Fortunately, in your case, they lost to reason, logic and common sense. So they must find others now to take your place.

They aim their false promises at your friends, family and--worst of all--your children. You know the truth. Share it with those who are willing to listen. If necessary, share it with those who may not be willing, but who need to know.

What other manufacturer can you think of that advertises and tries to entice young and old alike to take in proven carcinogens, poisons like arsenic, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and hundreds of others, and are addictive? What product comes to mind that kills one out of every two users? What product that meets these criteria would you expose yourself and your family to? None. The only reason you did it before is you were an actively using addict and you didn't have a choice. You have a choice now.

Help your children understand what it means to be hooked on nicotine. Even if you had an easy time quitting, think of all those less fortunate people in your clinic who were sick when trying to give up cigarettes. More important, let them know about all those people who were literally sick from all their past smoking. If you were in a typical clinic, you saw participants with heart disease, cancers, emphysema and patients with a wide variety of other smoking-related illnesses. People need to know that cigarettes are as addictive as they are deadly.

There is certainly enough promotion telling wonderful tales about cigarettes. Let's give equal time to education about the real facts. Here, you are getting an in-depth education on tobacco and addiction. The people here now know more than most of your family, friends, coworkers and your medical professionals. Share with them the knowledge of nicotine addiction.

To kids who have not started yet, help them understand how you were once hooked and how hard it was to stop. The easiest way to avoid the health implications is to never start smoking. You can't change your smoking history, but you can help influence your children to avoid the same trap you were once trapped in.

While you can't change the fact that you were once a smoker, you have altered your future course by quitting. You may also be able to help other family and friends who are not as far along in their understanding as you are.

There are still those around you who think that quitting smoking is impossible. They are wrong. Anyone can quit, no matter how much or how long they have smoked. Help them understand how to stop. Share with them your quitting techniques.

Tell them about WhyQuit if you feel your help is not enough. We will be glad to help any and all who need it. No matter how they quit though, with our help or not, make sure to share the understanding that the only way to ensure successful quitting over the long haul is to Never Take Another Puff!

Note: Joel wrote the bulk of the above letter in 1983 and updated it in 2000. The advertising slogans are different now but the tactics are the same. As Joel notes, "The ads have changed but one thing hasn't, not since 1989, not since the Surgeon General Report in 1964, not since cigarettes were beginning to be mass-produced at the turn of the 20th century, not since Columbus first brought tobacco back to the old world. One truth remains constant throughout all of tobacco's history. That truth, if you want to stay free from nicotine, always remember to Never Take Another Puff!"

Related resources by Joel

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