Don't be fooled by touchy-feely spin: Fossil fuel industry is not your friend 

Just like fossil fuel firms nowadays, cigarette company adverts were ubiquitous. Like then, the rules must change, writes John Gibbons

Exxon and other fossil fuel industry leaders suppressed key data and instead invested heavily in spreading disinformation and funding attacks on legitimate climate science.

As recently as two or three decades ago, cigarette smoking was part and parcel of life. People lit up indoors, in cars, pubs and on public transport, even aircraft. In fact, the GAA All-Stars awards were sponsored by PJ Carroll until 1978.

Posters, billboards and media sponsorship normalised a product whose manufacturers had known for decades kills one in two smokers. Slowly at first, then quickly, the smoke cleared and cigarettes were pushed almost completely out of the public domain.