In the early 20th century, the tobacco industry had a major problem. Women didn't smoke! That's 50% of the market!

Enter Albert Lasker. The German-born Jewish ad executive worked on the campaign for Lucky Strike, claiming that smoking will make women thin. Talk about a win! Soon, American women were puffing left and right.

(Interestingly, in the 1950s, the tobacco industry had to auto-correct. The Marlboro Man was introduced to make cigarettes more masculine! (We're obviously looking at it through the lens of the 21st century, but wouldn't that image draw more WOMEN in? Perhaps men, but of non-traditional orientation — yes, we're writing this in a post-Brokeback world, and yes, we digress.))

Lasker has been called by some "the father of modern advertising". He also owned the Chicago Cubs and is given credit for popularizing soap operas, which he did as a vehicle to deliver advertising.

Lasker's other major contribution to American culture? Making orange juice popular. Clearly, a better outcome than freakin' cigarettes!