From: afoxland@starband.net
Date: Wed, 03/05/03
Anne Landman Posting Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2003
The Letters You and Other Members of Your Class Wrote to Various
Officials of Our Company Regarding A Winston Ad You Saw in the Los Angeles Times
Have Come to This Department for Reply.
Company/source: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
Document Date: 07 Apr 1972
Length: 1 page
Bates No. 500671015
URL: http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/500671015-1015.html
PDF Version: http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/500671015-1015.pdf
Or
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/cgi/getdoc?tid=htq69d00&fmt=pdf&ref=results
This letter from T.K. Cahill of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's
public relations department was apparently written in response to a 5th grade
elementary school class in Santa Monica, California, who wrote the company to
protest a Winston cigarette advertisement that appeared in the Los Angeles
Times.
Cahill assures the children that cigarette advertising is not
directed at youth, but also brazenly tells them that "medical science has not
found any conclusive evidence that an element in tobacco or tobacco smoke causes
any human disease." (The first major Surgeon General's report linking cigarette
smoking with disease was issued in 1964, eight years before this letter was
written).
Then, in a classic example of the industry's application of the
Council for Tobacco Research for public relations purposes, Cahill tells the
children that,
"... in a sincere attempt to determine what harmful effects, if
any, smoking might have on human health, established The Council for Tobacco
Research....The answers to the many unanswered smoking and health questions--and
the true causes of human diseases--can, we believe, be determined by scientific
research. Our Company intends, therefore, to continue to support such research
until the truth is known."
Quotes:
R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company
Winston-Salem, N. C. 27102
April 7, 1972
Mr. Kenneth Bersinger
5th Grade, Room 404
Will Rogers Elementary School
2401 Fourteenth Street Santa Monica, California 90405
Dear Mr. Bersinger:
The letters you and other members of your class wrote to
various officials of our Company regarding a WINSTON ad you saw in the Los
Angeles Times have come to this department for reply. We appreciate the
opportunity your letters give us to furnish you our viewpoint.
The primary objective of the entire R. J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company advertising effort is to reach adult smokers. None of our cigarette
advertising, either in its content or in the media used, is directed to youth.
Provisions of the Cigarette Advertising Code, to which our company adheres,
prohibit advertising that would have a high appeal to the youth of the nation.
The tobacco industry is most concerned about the charges
being made that smoking is responsible for so many serious diseases. Long before
the present criticism began, the tobacco industry, in a sincere attempt to
determine what harmful effects, if any, smoking might have on human health,
established The Council for Tobacco Research. The industry also supports
research grants directed by the American Medical Association.
Despite all the research going on, medical science has not
found any conclusive evidence that an element in tobacco or tobacco smoke causes
any human disease. The answers to the many unanswered smoking and health
questions--and the true causes of human diseases--can, we believe, be determined
by scientific research. Our Company intends, therefore, to continue to support
such research until the truth is known.
I trust that these comments and the enclosed materials will
help you to understand our position on this matter.
Sincerely,
T. K. Cahill Public Relations Department
---------------------------------------------------
Notes
Thanks to attorney Madelyn Chaber of San Francisco, California
for bringing this document to Doc-Alert's attention.
-----------------------------------------
Company: R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company
Author: Cahill, T.K. (Public Relations Dept., RJR c. 1972)
Recipient: Bersinger, Kenneth, 5th Grade teacher, Will Rogers
Elem School, Santa Monica, CA
Subject: youth
youth initiation
Youth Smoking Prevention Programs (Industry-sponsored youth
smoking prevention programs)
health belief
industry front group
industry sponsored research
corporate responsibility
Region: United States
California
Type: CONSUMER LETTER
Named Person: CTR, Council for Tobacco Research
AMA, American Medical Association
Los Angeles Times
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afoxland@starband.net
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