Today, commercials for cigarettes are among the most heavily regulated in the United States.  Not only are cigarettes banned from being advertised on TV and on the radio but even ads in magazines and newspapers are required to carry a warning about the health effects of smoking.

That was not always the case.

In fact, at one time, cigarettes were regularly advertised as being the perfect Christmas gift!  The ads below date from the 1930s to the 1960s but all of them share on thing in common, the message that a Merry Christmas will be a smoky Christmas: