Cut it out or cut it down

Poster with an anti-smoking message, illustrated with a cigarette holding figure, drawn by illustrator Reginald Mount, coughing heavily and the message 'Cut it out or cut it down', prepared for the Ministry of Health by the Central Office of Information, London, England, c.1965-1970

By the late 1960s the link between smoking and diseases such as cancer and bronchitis was clearly established. Cartoonist Reginald Mount drew this anti-smoking poster for a Ministry of Health campaign. This is the government body responsible for public health education. The figure holding the cigarette is coughing heavily to illustrate the daily damage smokers did to their lungs. Mount produced distinctive cartoons on public health matters from road safety to STIs (sexually transmitted infections), then known as venereal diseases.