The propaganda of bodies

In his famous “tobacco speech” of 1962, NAB President LeRoy Collins invoked the industry's own self‐regulatory standards and declared that private profit must give way when the public interest is jeopardized. Thus he argued that advertisements for cigarettes directed at youth should be barred from the airwaves. However, the broadcasters’ rejection of his proposal reveals the industry's historical equivocal view of the public interest. On January 1, 1971 Congress struck cigarette advertising from radio and television. Broadcasters fought that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, although it is quite possible that the airing of cigarette commercials would still be permissable but for a critical industry decision ten years ago.