‘Torches of Freedom’ Cigarettes, Abortion and Lies Women are Sold

It was the Greek philosopher Epictetus who once suggested, “Liars are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.”

Christians can certainly reconcile that observation with man’s fallen nature. The serpent in the Garden of Eden assured Eve she wouldn’t die from eating the forbidden fruit, and that by consuming it would become like God Himself (Genesis 3:4-5).

It was the first lie ever told, and deceit and deception have been flowing ever since.

This proclivity came to mind recently when I came across the name of Edward Bernays, otherwise known as the “Father of Public Relations.”

The pioneering publicist hailed from a prominent family. His uncle was Sigmund Freud. Bernays’ best-known campaign was a massively successful effort to publicize the tobacco industry and specifically, convince women to smoke cigarettes out in the open.

In the early 1900s, it was considered impolite and unladylike for women to smoke in public. The act was often associated with prostitutes. But the industry recognized that if they could rebrand and reframe the habit, they’d be able to exponentially increase sales.

Enter Edward Bernays.

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,” reflected the PR guru.

So, to reverse the stigma of women and cigarettes, Bernays began referring to the tobacco in advertisements as “Torches of Freedom” and correlated women smoking outdoors with liberating and unshackling them from a male dominated culture. They also suggested smoking after dinner was healthier than having dessert.

The high point of the public campaign was inviting women to march down New York City’s Fifth Avenue during the 1929 Easter Parade and smoke cigarettes while advocating for women’s equality. Headlined The New York Times the next day:

Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of “Freedom”

A photographer from Vogue magazine was invited to join the throng. The stunt was successful. Images in other newspapers of prominent women smoking in public made their way across the country. The message was clear: a liberated woman should feel free to smoke wherever a man was inclined to light up.

In reality, smoking didn’t liberate women – it caused many to get sick, thicken their lungs, develop emphysema and heart disease, suffer an increase in strokes and other respiratory illness – and eventually die of cancer.

So much for liberation. The so-called “Torches of Freedom” actually torched their health, dignity and enslaved them to an addictive and bad habit, often for a lifetime.

Sound familiar?

Abortion advocates regularly tout the freedom to kill a preborn child as a foundational right for women.

“Abortion is liberating” proclaims the ACLU in an advertisement selling a ballcap with the words “Abortion Power” embroidered on it.

Planned Parenthood and other radical activists have echoed a similar perspective for decades. According to their distorted logic, abortion ensures women of autonomy over their own bodies. Their innocent child is simply a necessary casualty in pursuit of this freedom.

In fact, abortion not only kills the innocent child, it also enslaves the mother to a lifetime of misery and regret. They’re burdened by the equivalent of countless side effects – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

“When you can get women to despise their own child in the womb, you know you’ve pulled off a wicked and evil campaign,” said Focus on the Family president Jim Daly.

Years later, Bernays wrote of his “Torches of Freedom” campaign:

“Age-old customs, I learned, could be broken down by a dramatic appeal, disseminated by the network of media. Of course, the taboo was not destroyed completely. But a beginning had been made, one I regret today.”

Similarly, willing allies in the media have aided the abortion propogandists, working overtime for the last half-century to break down taboos.

Let’s hope and pray the conniving actors and spiritually blind who are behind this evil effort come acknowledge their regrets sooner than later.

Image credit: American Tobacco Co., 1929