A Frank Statement

A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers is a full-page advertisement published on 4 January 1954 in more than 400 American newspapers, reaching an estimated 43 million readers, in which six major tobacco companies responded to emerging scientific evidence linking smoking to lung cancer. The advertisement, prepared by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton on behalf of the industry, did not deny the health claims outright but instead sought to cast doubt on the underlying science and pledged that the industry would fund further research into the health of smokers. Historians treat it as an early and influential example of a corporate strategy for manufacturing public doubt about established scientific findings, a strategy later industries facing unwelcome research would draw on. It is frequently cited as a founding document in the history of organized denial campaigns aimed at public health and environmental science.