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Over the last six decades cigarette advertising has been almost as controversial as smoking itself.

During the 1950s, smoking was at an all time high. Soldiers had been given free cigarettes during the war and hundreds upon hundreds came home addicted. Cigarettes were advertised to have many health benefits, including curing obesity and giving a person a tremendous energy boost. Smoking was fashionable and endorsed by movie stars, sports stars, cartoon characters and even doctors. Television ads, newspaper, radio and magazine ads all showed the sometimes cutsie, often glamorous, always star-studded side of cigarette smoking.

In the 1960s the cigarette industry experienced its first hiccup in advertising. The US Surgeon General at that time formed an Advisory Committee on the dangers of smoking. The report unearthed the connection between smoking and emphysema, lung cancer and other diseases. Warning labels were then required to be placed on all cigarettes and ads.

The dangers of smoking became a major health focus and by 1971, and all radio and television ads for cigarettes were suspended. Thus the candy cigarette and chewing tobacco were born, luring the younger generation to the tobacco emporium. The cool Camel known as Joe and the macho cigarette cowboy galloped onto the scene and cigarette advertising began to target the underage, preparing them for the day they turned 18 and could buy the real thing.

Pressure from the public and a law suit in the 1990s caused Joe Camel to, well, go up in smoke. Some states have banned the sale of candy cigarettes and tobacco.

Cigarette companies have continued their ad campaigns to the tune of billions of dollars in magazines, newspapers and on billboards. But the government and anti-smoking groups continue to fight to place restrictions on tobacco advertising. The New York Times no longer runs any cigarette ads. New York is among one of the states to outlaw any type of cigarette advertising within 1,000 feet of a school.

In 2009, President Obama, who admits to struggling with nicotine addiction, signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act which is designed to take the glamour out of cigarette advertising.

With the restrictions on advertising as well as smoking in public places — with New York imposing the strictest laws about outdoor smoking — reports indicate that there has been a decline in smoking of nearly four percent per year in the United States. So, perhaps these antismoking tactics are having an effect. Take that, Joe Camel.