I always see these old time ads that have doctors advertising a specific brand of cigarettes, and I can't help wonder what the reality of it was.
Were they bribed? Were they legally making false claims?
You'd think that after all the dissections and openings of lugs, people would notice that smoker lungs tended to have much more damage done to them. I just can't believe doctors would agree that smoking is healthy when it can so clearly be seen by cutting open bodies, which they do, that some things just don't go well.
Not a historian, but I know a bit about this through skepticism and advertising research.
Pre-1920, there are cigarettes that claimed to help with asthma, but it wasn't tobacco. By the late teens and early 20's, the idea that cigarettes was connected to lung cancer was being studied. It wasn't mainstream, but small numbers of doctors and scientists were aware of health problems and thought they were related to smoking. So as far as health, by the 40's and definitely by the 50's, doctors knew smoking was bad for you. The extent of the harm was what was still being debated.
As far as advertising, I haven't seen an ad from the 1920's and on that said cigarettes were healthy or good for you. The quotes that I have immediate access to said:
"More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette."
"L&M Filters are just what the doctor ordered."
"20,679 physicians say Luckies are less irritating."
The ads have images of doctors smoking, with white coats or other indications of the medical field. This suggests that doctors approve of smoking, which is the point of the advertising. But notice, none of the ads say they are healthy. They are making no health claims. They are saying the smoke is smooth or less irritating (less irritating than what?) or pointing to doctor preference.
It would be the equivalent of saying 7 of 10 dentists prefer vodka over any other liquor. They aren't claiming vodka is good for your teeth, but by including dentist in the ad, most people will assume that there is some connection between vodka and teeth.
Misleading? Maybe. That's advertising, though. It uses images and words to take advantage of how our brains work. No doctors had to be bribed, and no lies were told. The ads just took advantage of the trust in doctors at that time, and used that trust to sell a product.