Toasted

High-flying claims of cigarette companies got a satiric guffaw this week in the comic strip Abbie an' Slats. A character named Professor Coughington invented the "puffomatic," the "miracle cigarette of the century," which does everything that cigarette makers claim, plus a little more (see cut).

Cigarette advertising claims have not been so amusing to the Federal Trade Commission, which has been investigating them. A year ago, FTC told R. J. Reynolds (Camels) and P. Lorillard (Old Golds) to stop saying that their cigarettes "aid digestion" and are "lowest in nicotine." Last week it was the American Tobacco Co.'s turn. FTC slapped a ban on such claims as 1) "With men who know tobacco best, it's Luckies 2 to 1," and 2) Luckies are less irritating, contain less nicotine and acid than other popular brands.

To find out whether "independent experts" really preferred Luckies, FTC interviewed members of American Tobacco's panel. FTC's findings: of those interviewed, "50 did not smoke cigarettes at all, more than 100 did not smoke Lucky Strike cigarettes exclusively and a number of them . . . smoked other brands exclusively." Some of the experts were so independent that they "had no connection whatsoever with the tobacco business"; others, said FTC, could never recall being interviewed by the American Tobacco Co.

Luckies had one fact to crow about: "The Federal Trade Commission upheld [our] claim 'It's Toasted.' '

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