Selling Danger

Selling Danger

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From the Digital Box Set: In the history of the advertising industry, the full force of persuasion has been put behind many products that turned out to be incredibly unsafe. Even when those products were used exactly as advertised, they created enormous hazards, physical risk, and in some cases, even death. We’ll explore how we invited asbestos and DDT into our homes as miracle products, how certain games for children ended up posing incredible risks, and how a much-heralded drug ended up being one of the most devastating products in modern history. In most of these cases, no one could foresee they were selling danger. This is an archived episode that aired originally on March 23, 2013.