Editorial cartoon exhibit: Smoking is the butt of their humor

Newspaper cartoonists have provided a breath of fresh air in the nation's ongoing effort to address its tobacco addiction.

By Stephanie Stapleton, AMNews staff. May 7, 2007.

The themes are varied, brought to life by a multitude of images -- from the fat cat tobacco executives to kids attracted to Joe Camel's cool.

All are part of "Cartoonists Take Up Smoking," an exhibit curated at the University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society in Tuscaloosa that is built around the work of a core group of 55 cartoonists addressing tobacco issues spanning nearly the last half century. It also features artifacts such as the original newspaper headlines that inspired the drawings, an original copy of the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health, and a display of the Kent Mironite filter that contained asbestos and was advertised as safe and pure enough to filter air in hospitals.

With such items, the exhibit seeks to detail the nation's ongoing struggle with tobacco in general and cigarettes in particular. "The wide-ranging controversies surrounding tobacco are captured in the cartoons, from the misguided quest for a safe cigarette to the targeting of tobacco advertising to women and minority groups," explained Alan Blum, MD, in a statement. He founded and directs the center and decades ago began the memorabilia collection it now houses.

The highlighted cartoons cover a broad swath of public opinion. Some convey adamantly anti-smoking messages, while others are critical of this crusade. Anyone can be a target -- Big Tobacco, finger-waggers, lawyers, politicians and even smokers. The artwork has power -- using humor to deconstruct the intricacies involved.