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The Tobacco Toll |
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  Monday . Sep 8 |
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Inside Quotes Brown & Williamson“The determination… of the ‘tranquilizing’ function of nicotine… together with nicotine’s possible effect on obesity, delivers to the industry what well may be its first effective instrument of propaganda counter to that of the American Cancer Society, et al., damning cigarettes as having a causal relationship to cancer of the lung.” Memo from Brown & Williamson’s General Counsel, (7/17/63) “We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug effective in the release of stress mechanisms.” Memo from Brown & Williamson’s General Counsel, (7/17/63) Originally, CTR (the Council for Tobacco Research) was organized as a public relations effort. The industry told the world CTR would look at the diseases which were being associated with smoking. There was even a suggestion by our political spokesman that if a harmful element turned up the industry would try to root it out. The research of CTR also discharged a legal responsibility. […] There is another political need for research. Recently it has been suggested that CTR or industry research should enable us to give quick responses to new developments in the propaganda of the avid anti-smoking groups. For example, CTR or someone should be able to rebut the suggestion that smokers suffer from a peculiar disease, as widely alleged in the press some few months ago… Finally the industry research effort has included special projects designed to find scientists and medical doctors who might serve as industry witnesses in lawsuits or in a legislative forum. Memo from B&W Vice President and General Counsel to B&W Chairman and CEO (4/4/78) Lorillard “We’re adults. You’ve got a group of talented kids. Hence this letter. We have been asked by our client to come up with a package design… a design that is attractive to kids… While this cigarette is geared to the youth market, no attempt (obvious) can be made to encourage persons under twenty-one to smoke. The package design should be geared to attract the youthful eye… not the ever-watchful eye of the Federal Government.” Letter from Lorillard advertising account executive to a marketing professor, soliciting help from his students with advertising design (8/13/70). Philip Morris In order to determine whether hyperactive children would become cigarette smokers, Philip Morris conducted a study of grade schoolers: “We wonder whether such children may not eventually become cigarette smokers in their teenage years as they discover the advantage of self-stimulation via nicotine.” R.J. Ryan, Philip Morris, “Relationship Between Smoking and Personality,” in Smoker Psychology Report, June 10, 1974. R. J. Reynolds “A careful study of the current youth jargon, together with a review of currently used high school American history books and like sources for valued things might be a good start at finding a good brand name and image theme.” Research Planning Memorandum on Some Thoughts About New Brands of Cigarettes for the Youth Market. (2/2/73) “The fragile, developing self-image of the young person needs all of the support and enhancement it can get. Smoking may appear to enhance that image in a variety of ways. If one values, for example, an adventurous, sophisticated, adult image, smoking may enhance one’s self image.” Research Planning Memorandum on Some Thoughts About New Brands of Cigarettes for the Youth Market. (2/2/73) “To para-phrase [sic] General Patton, the way we won these cases was not by spending all of Reynolds' money, but by making that other son of a bitch spend all his.” Memo from RJR outside lawyer in charge of California cases. (4/29/88) Thus a tobacco product is, in essence, a vehicle for delivery of nicotine, designed to deliver the nicotine in a generally acceptable and attractive form. Our industry is then based upon design, manufacture and sale of attractive dosage forms of nicotine, and our Company's position in our Industry is determined by our ability to produce dosage forms of nicotine which have more overall value, tangible or intangible, to the consumer than those of our competitors. RJR Confidential Research Planning Memorandum. (4/14/72)
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