RJR May Be Mailing Free Cigarettes In Your State!
Take Action Now To Find Out If They Are -- And How To Stop Them!
Originally Sent: December 17, 1999

In an action that may well be violate the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the R.J. Reynolds cigarette company recently generated outrage in Arizona by mailing free packs of cigarettes to residents of that state. While the company claims that the cigarettes were mailed only to people who had requested them, some recipients deny making any such requests. And there are news accounts of children playing with the cigarettes they found in the mail.

The material mailed with the cigarettes instructs recipients to "smoke enough of the cigarettes to form an opinion" before completing an enclosed survey. Arizona's Attorney General, Janet Napolitano, believes this instruction actually means to "to form an addiction" and that the mailing violates at least the spirit of the MSA. She has threatened to take RJR to court if they don't stop the distribution. The MSA prohibits any mailing of free packs of cigarettes except for mailings done as part of a "formal" consumer testing or evaluation process to persons "who certify they are adults".

It is very unlikely that Arizona is the only state that RJR has targeted for this kind of outrageous and underhanded marketing ploy. It is important to expose this activity and alert both the media and the attorneys general.

1. Contact your local media and alert them that this may be happening in your state.

2. Check with your state attorney general's office to see if they have received any complaints about similar mailings. To locate your attorney general's contact information, please visit http://www.naag.org/contact.htm.

3. Spread the word to your grassroots networks to gather information about unsolicited mailings of cigarettes.

4. Please keep us informed! Email us at messages@tobaccofreekids.org and type "free cigarettes" in the subject line along with a description of your findings.

PS. THANKS to all of you who participated in Brown & Williamson's December 8th on-line chat. Corky Newton, Vice President of Corporate and Youth Prevention Responsibility Programs, faced a number of real and challenging questions about the legitimacy of B&W's "new corporate responsbility" campaign. Go to www.brownandwilliamson.com to read the entire transcript.

This alert was brought to you by the CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS National Action Network. To learn about other ways you can help protect kids from tobacco in your state and in Washington, D.C., please visit our web site, www.tobaccofreekids.org. To unsubscribe, prepare a message to: tobacco.brief@reply.net and in the subject line type: unsubscribe. Or if we have reached you by fax and you wish to unsubscribe, give us a call at 202-296-5469.