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I remain amazed that we managed to ban tobacco advertising but alcohol and gambling, also harmful and addictive vices, continue to be advertised.

Both have very little societal value, other than alcohol's traditional role as a lubricant of social interaction, and there's no reason to actively promote them.

FWIW I love alcohol. I don't gamble because I don't enjoy it, but I have nothing against gambling.

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When I was growing up, advertising tobacco was still widespread, I remember quite well watching Fred & Barney smoke Winstons during the Flintstones first TV season.

But for things like legal services, medical procedures, and pharmaceuticals which were fundamentally unethical to advertise to the public, they were still forbidden for that reason.

That surely changed one day. Bless their hearts, they just wanted the kind of love that people have given to tobacco since they got a hold of it.

Or it got a hold of them :\

Tobacco because a trendy social cause. Alcohol did once too but that was 100 years ago or so.

Prohibition banned alcohol not ads, a clearly terrible idea. And tobacco remains legal to sell and consume.

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