From: anne@tobaccodocuments.org
Date: Fri, 12/30/05
Anne LandmanPosting Date: Friday, December 30, 2005
Smoking and Health Proposal
Document Date: 1969
Length: 9 pages
Bates No.: 690010951/0959
URL of this Posting, with images:
http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/332506.html
URL of Document Images only: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rgy93f00
This 1969 Brown & Williamson (B&W) document discusses using cigarette
advertising to "counter the anti-cigarette forces" by including defensive
editorial text in the ads. The document states,
"Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the 'body
of fact' [linking smoking with disease] that exists in the mind of the general
public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy...if we are
successful in establishing a controversy at the public level, there is an
opportunity to put across the real facts about smoking and health."
An educated guess is that this document was authored by R.A. Pittman, Senior
Brand Marketing Supervisor at B&W from 1968-70, with help from B&W marketing
executives John Blalock, Charles I. McCarty and Corny Muije. This assumption is
based on a memo ordering the project written by J.W. Burgard, Executive Vice
President of Sales and Public Relations at B&W in 1969. This memo has a Bates
number adjacent to the "Smoking and Health Proposal" (Bates Number:
690010960/0961 URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/sgy93f00)
The objectives of the proposal (found in another adjacent document) are
remarkable for the callous attitude towards public health and the tragedy upon
humanity that they represent:
"Objective No. 1: To set aside in the minds of millions the false conviction
that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer and other diseases; a conviction based
on fanatical assumptions, fallacious rumors, unsupported claims and the
unscientific statements and conjectures of publicity-seeking opportunists.
Objective No. 2: To lift the cigarette from the cancer identification as
quickly as possible and restore it to its proper place of dignity and acceptance
in the minds of men and women in the marketplace of American free enterprise.
Objective No. 3: To expose the incredible, unprecedented and nefarious attack
against the cigarette, constituting the greatest libel and slander ever
perpetrated against any product in the history of free enterprise...
Objective No. 4: To unveil the insidious and developing pattern of attack
against the American free enterprise system, a sinister formula that is slowly
eroding American business with the cigarette obviously selected as one of the
trial targets."
[Taken from Starting Bates Number: 690010962, URL:
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tgy93f00)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Notes
The ads discussed in these documents were developed. They were ads for KOOL
cigarettes that contained editorial text about smoking and disease. The ads were
called "Adios II with Side Copy" and "Adios II with Bottom Copy." Documents show
B&W did extensive copy testing of these ads with focus groups:
Title: KOOL PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS "ADIOS IT WITH SIDE COPY""ADIOS IT WITH
BOTTOM COPY"REPORT B+W-69-22 EXTENDED SERVICE
Document Date: 19690000
Document Type: MRPT, MARKETING REPORT;ADVE, ADVERTISEMENT;CHAR, CHART;ENVE,
ENVELOPE;FILE, FILE FOLDER/BINDER COVERS/BLANK PAGES;FOOT, FOOTNOTES;OUTL,
OUTLINE;QUES, QUESTIONNAIRE,
ADVERTISEMENT;FORM;FILE;LIST;GRAPHIC;REPORT;CORRESPONDENCE
Bates Number: 690006218/6316 Page Count: 100 Collection: Brown and Williamson
URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/enm40f00
Title: KOOL PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS "ADIOS II WITH SIDE COPY" "ADIOS II WITH
BOTTOM COPY" REPORT B&W-69-22 EXTENDED SERVICE
Document Date: 19690000
Document Type: MRPT, MARKETING REPORT;CHAR, CHART;QUES, QUESTIONNAIRE,
FORM;GRAPHIC;REPORT
Bates Number: 689016814/6922
Page Count: 109
Collection: Brown and Williamson
URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wxm40f00
We were unable to find actual copies of the ads or where they ran.
Thanks to Ray Goldstein of San Francisco for forwarding today's document, the
"Smoking and Health Proposal."
-----------------------------------------
Quotes:
[From the bottom of Bates Page 690010953]
In thinking over what we might do to improve the case for cigarettes, I have
looked at the problem somewhat like the marketing of a new brand. Here is a
chart where I have defined the basic marketing elements which I see in the
smoking and health problem. Our consumer I have defined as the mass public, our
product as doubt, our message as truth -- well stated, and our competition as
the body of anti-cigarette fact that exists in the public mind. We have chosen
the mass public as our consumer for several reasons: - This is where the
misinformation about smoking and health has been focused. - The Congress and
federal agencies are already being dealt with--and perhaps as effectively as
possible--by the Tobacco Institute. - It is a group with little exposure to the
positive side of smoking and health. - It is the prime force in influencing
Congress and federal agencies--without public support little effort would be
given to a crusade against cigarettes. Doubt is our product since it is the best
means of competing with the "body of fact" that exists in the mind of the
general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy. Within the
business we recognize that a controversy exists. However, with the general
public the consensus is that cigarettes are in some way harmful to the health.
If we are successful in establishing a controversy at the public level, then
there is an opportunity to put across the real facts about smoking and health.
Doubt is also the limit of our "product". Unfortunately, we cannot take a
position directly opposing the anti-cigarette forces and say that cigarettes are
a contributor to good health. No information that we have supports such a claim.
-------------------------------------
Company
Brown & Williamson
Region
United States
Named Person
Blalock, John V. (TI Public Relations Committee)
B&W Executive: TI PR Committee
Foote, Emerson (Ad exec.; Promoted Lucky Strikes in 1930s)
Muije, Corny S. (Mgr., Market Research B&W)
Manager, Market Research
Yeaman, Addison (B&W Vice President)
General counsel for B&W. CTR Chairman/President 1975-1981
Named Organization
Tobacco Institute
Litigation
10004026
10004045 05583
10003108 00933
10004026 04295
10004026 04660
10004042 11536
10004042 00069
10004013 00069
10004027 00015
Type
SPCH, SPEECH/PRESENTATION
MEETING MATERIALS
Subject
Corporate strategy
advertising campaign
industry activity
industry strategy
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Anne Landman
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anne@tobaccodocuments.org
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