Tobacco Documents Online

D R A F STATE~fENT BY MR. JOSEPH F. CIN.LMAN' 3rd January 19, 1972 Philip Morris has Joined five other tobacco companies in an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission which establishes standards for showing in cigarette advertising the caution notice which Congress now requires on cigarette packages. I am ¢al.ling attention, to this agreement because I believe it resolves a nmJor outstanding issue. between the government and the tobacco industry in regard to cigarette advertising. By this action, and the current practice of including "tar" and nicoti;ne listings, cigarette man~:facturers appear to have met the demands which have been made for full disclosure of information in cigarette advertisements. The ma~n. point at issue was whether ~resent cigarette adver- tising presented the Congressionall!y-approved caution notice in a "clear and conspicuous" manner. On Ju~ly i, 1971, the Commission announced its intention to start a proceeding to require the inclusion of th~s caution notice: in advertising. For the past nine months, Philip Morris along w.ith silx other tobacco companies, had been depict- ing in newspaper, magazine and billboa~rd advertising the side. panel of a cigarette package on whi~ch this caution notice was clearly legible. Our decision to show the "notilce" side of the package was made after discussions with members of Congress and, government officials and was publicly announced~ in April 1971.

STATEMENT -2- January 19, 1972 Although we believed and continue to believe that the Federal Trade Co.mmission's proposed action to require the warning message in advertising would not have been sustained! ei~ther on the facts or on the l, aw, we chose to try to resolve the prob].:em by entering into good faith negotiations w~th. the Commission ratller than engaging in lengthy and! costly litigation which would have taxed both our resources and those of the Commission. The resulting agreement con- cerning the form and size, conspicuousness and legibility, of the depiction of the Congressionally-approved caution notice and the type of advertising on which i,t must be included, represents, in my opinion, a fair settlement of the issue. Cigarette advertisements have ~or some time included a listing of "tar" and n~cotine for the advertised brands; they will con,tinue to i~nciude the caution notice henceforth in a manner ~ecep~.5].~ ,.,nAer the Federal Trade Commission's: standa,rds of clarity and conspi~cuosness. In taking these steps, I believe that the tobacco i, ndiustry has shown a responsible and cooperative attitude toward government demands for additional consumer information, in advertSsing and has elilminated the con.troversial aspects, of cigarette advertiising. The "tar" and nicotine listings and the caution, notice ~gill now. be readily available to consumers, and the use of prJ.nt~ billboard, and other available advertising media will permit manufacturers to des- cribe the characteristics of existing products as well as to introduce to cigarette smokers new, improved products as they are developed.