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Claim: A false rumor about a leper working in a cigarette factory damaged Chesterfield's sales.
Origins: In 1934 a particularly vicious whispering 
campaign aimed at disrupting sales of Chesterfield cigarettes went into effect. Up and down the Atlantic seaboard, then all across the USA, the slander was heard: "A leper has been found working in the Chesterfield cigarette factory in Richmond, Virginia."
Fear of contracting this terrible disease through smoking product handled by a leper kept customers at bay. Liggett and Myers (the tobacco company which produced Chesterfields, among other brands), fought back by getting the mayor and the Board of Health of Richmond to issue an official statement that Chesterfield factories had been investigated and nothing had been found to support this rumor. The city officials said they could Which, of course, did little to slow the rumor. Like the work of the broom-wielding sweeper who follows the elephant, denials — even ones issuing from disinterested official sources — don't change the impression left by what the elephant dropped. The firm also offered $1000 rewards to the first 25 people who furnished it with satisfactory evidence as to who was spreading this tale. Though Liggett and Myers proved unsuccessful in tracing the story to its source, it appeared to be the work of professional rumormongers hired by its Rumors about contaminated workers and cigarette factories had been around before becoming attached to Chesterfield — Liggett and Myers were merely the latest stop on this wandering leper of lore's schedule. Liggett and Myers tried to duke it out with whoever was behind these tales, but that proved an exercise in boxing at shadows. Its statement of "We do not object to legitimate competition, but cowardly attacks of this sort have no place in American business or American life" fell on unlistening ears. The leper rumor wasn't the only image attack Liggett and Myers had to do battle with — around the same time that firm was combating false whispers that it had contributed more than half a million dollars to Adolph Hitler. But of course it hadn't, so the angered reaction raised in those who heard this rumor ran unchecked. Fear needs an outlet, and this rumor gave those concerned about Hitler's growing power a target for their apprehension:
[Jacobsen, 1948]
Times change, but human nature doesn't. The same urge to strike a blow at a large evil by delivering one on the chin to a corporation reputed to be in league with it also drives the Procter and Gamble rumor — those looking to stand up for Jesus or to take a whack at Satanism are oddly comforted by having this large company to use as their personal punching bag. That the rumors are baseless doesn't matter; having a target to direct outrage at does.
The untruth about Chesterfield's contributing to aid the Nazis at a time when many people lived in constant dread of Hitler's triumphs not only aroused a desire for revenge which resulted in fall-off of sales, but gave the gullible dupe personal satisfaction by providing him with a means for venting his own inner emotions. Condemning Chesterfield makers, spreading the rumor, and no longer buying the cigarettes became as pleasurable to the credulous as loosening the laces of a tight shoe or unfastening a belt buckle after a heavy dinner. It now became possible to manifest hatred for nazism, to take action against a frightening enemy by moving against an individual commercial group. The opportunity was far too delicious for the frustrated to pause and make conscious inquiries into the matter of fact and truth. Barbara "deviled by a rumor" Mikkelson Last updated: 24 January 2007 Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2008 by snopes.com. This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  Sources:
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