During last month’s private client Zoom, Dan Kennedy brought up something that made a few people visibly uncomfortable, because it challenged a quiet assumption many modern businesses have been leaning on for years. He said we are approaching what he called social media’s “tobacco moment.”
There was a time when cigarettes were everywhere. They were advertised on television. Doctors endorsed them. Brands sponsored sporting events. Nobody questioned it. Tobacco companies looked untouchable, and entire industries were built around the assumption that the party would never end.

