An 18 February 1882 newspaper carried an advertisement for cigarettes with the following benefits:
- Immediate relief in the worst attack of asthma, hay fever, bronchitis
- Daily use results in a complete cure
- These cigarettes have been successfully tested and recommended by the medical profession for many years
- They are perfectly harmless and can be smoked by ladies, children and the most delicate patients
This was a time when even doctors and nurses were not just smoking themselves, but also encouraging their patients to follow suit.
We may think we have come a long way – evolved. Yes we have, at least when it comes to smoking.
But there are so many things today’s generation has little clue about. Parenting. Food choices. Exercising. Health choices. Professional choices. Lifestyle choices.
Another 100 years, and people from then will look back at us and laugh. All the while going through their own sets of blind follies.