Tobacco Documents Online

• A Narrative of Key Events in the SOSAS P~oject ~everal names occur perlodlcally throughout this narrative. For brevity, Initlals have been used where eppropriate as followst - ~Ilm Peterson G~ - Grill Harlow - ~arles ~cker ~ - ~x Cro~ - ~is Durd~ ~ - ~n Sust~a - B~I Christo~er ~ - ~w~d Jac~ March 22, ~e first m~ting of ~e Natlonal C~ission m ~ ~ ga~er ~st~ny from ejective (~owh ACS ha~-pick~) wi~sses r~ardi~ t~ d~er of ~kl~. ~v~ ~re r~ion~ ~ar~s ~re ~nd~ted ~ ~y/J~e. "On March 25, W. Bobbs met with Senior Management of his five agencies {TD present for BBDO) to brief them on the ACS "Target l~Ive" program. A short term solution was discussed to ser~ tobacco industry sponsored witnesses to the next ACS hearing. l~Ine longer term strategic solutions were also discussed.

-2- April_ - On April I, L. Light of BBDO presented the joint opinion and rationale of all five R3R agencies that industry sponsored witnesses should not participate in ACS hearings. BBEO recom- merged establishing a task force Ix) develop a plan to confront longer-term problems confronting the industry. On May 2, L. Light presented 15 antl-smoking Lssues and possible responses to each of those issues• Mr. Light's "Issues ar~ Answers" presentation. - A research study conducted in June 1977 by V. L. Tazrance JJ~licated that the Tobacco Industry Imago was not particularly positive. ~1~e Industry was rated 5th of 5 and below both the Liquor and Oil Industries. - Focus groups were conducted by the Beam~n~ 6rganizatlon • Oune to identify ~oklng-related issues arc] their relative ~mportance to the general population. Irritation to non- smokers and non-smoker health were qualified as the two most ~mportant issues..Tnls study was managed by GH and also represented the first formal, advisory involvement by BBDO Pesearch. U~ 0

~ - ~ublic Opinion Research was launched to identify major ~ndustry Droblems and possible positions of greatest ~ppeal to general Ixfl)lic. . On July 11, A~ency Management (TD), Accost ~nd Creative G~oups met with JP and HC in Winston-Salem to discuss overview of SO~AS project. _August - On August 16, B~DO Account and Creative Groups were briefed on anti-smoking issues, by RJR Legal and R&D in Winston/Salem. /~ C- In August 1977 EBDO prepared a summary of the history of pro- ~ " ~ hlbition to underscore the similarity of events leading to • ~ohibitlon compared with current anti-smoking activities. continued work on the development ard refinement of basic obrcepts representing vlable Ion<j-term SOSASdlrections. _September - Several meetings were held throughout September with KTR - . personnel to. review on-going basic concept pcogress. o 0 U~ ~,

October - On October 21-22 the SO~AS retreat wa~ held in NYC. The ~urpose was to review the SO~AS charter and objectives, share data developed to date, and firm t~. dlrectlon and priorities. Three research studies were also reviewed as follows.. - Research was conducted by the Bea~nont Organization to quantify smoking-related issues identified in earlier research. A major finding was that non-s~okers' health emerged as a serious concern among smokers (51%) as well a~ non-~okers {71%). F~reover, smokers .e~ppeared to offer little resistance to further restrictions on smoking. In-depth intervie~ ~ere conducted by Civil Service, Inc. in early fall 1977 to relate smo.~irg to various lifestyle segments ~n the general population. In general, this study suggested that {~ smoker is not perceived highly either by himself or by non- ~okers. However, the study also show~] that people dislike further government regulations except for the anti-smoking zealots ~ho are u~compromising in their cause. Results were also released of the Opinion Leader P,e.search con- ducted by the Edelman organization. ~he research consisted of "cigarette related" conversations with media, govenment, and corporate executives. ~ong the findings becoming less socially acceptable and that a "courteslf campaign was desirable. Opinion leaders generally placed little credence $n the passive s~okirg issue.

oO • Novembe[ - A meeting was held on November 22 at BBDO with Mr. Shlnn con~nenting on several SOSAS position statements. Based on these co,ments various positions were eliminated from future consideration due to legal considerations. - BBDO supplied several demographically acceptable test markets to Roy .Pfautch and the Edelman oranlzatlon. BuR personnel further restlcted this market llst on th~ basis of the local press, severity of local antl-smoklng cllmate etc. Two test areas {Erie, Pa. and Des Molnes, ~owa) ar~ two matched control areas (York, Pa~, and Cmaha, Neb.) resulted from th~s process. BBDO reiterated its concerns with test marketing, stating that test markets would forfeit the surprise element. Also, measuring attitude.shift over such a shore tL~e interval • - woold probably result in inconclusive data. .December - In a December 5 meeting with BC it was confirmed that BBDO's |I responsibility for all work would be the passive ~oklng .... : .... ~-~._=.... |ssue. Also comments fr~ Messrs. Crohn, Shlnn, an~ Jacob • WOUI~ be incorporated into several alternative concepts prior , to group sessions to be held later that month. • - On December 13, concepts were finalized with RJ'R ~ in NYC ar~ the first focus groups were conducted in New Jersey. -- BB~O attended focus groups in Seattle on December "" U~ : 0 0

- BBDO aLtendecl ~ocus 9rou[~; In St. I~:)u~[s on ~r 20. [~rom the focus gro~s four ~ositions emerged as bein9 most viable £or future consideration: Non-Smokers' Health, Courtesy, Smokers' Right to Smoke, ;~dltional Government Regulations. ~he first " Of these potential positions, Non-Smokers' Headth, was Judged to have the greatest promise. Also in December, results were received from the Yankelov-lch Corporate Priorities Research designed to measure public pollcy pressure on business. The research was conducted among leadership ~people {government', media, financial) as woll as the general popula- tlon. High proportions of both population segments view pa.ssive smoking - as a health hazard and see increased cigarette tax as the next public .policy target• In general, there was little confidence in business . With most people feeling that there ls an over-emphasis on pro£1t at t~e expense of public interest. In DecOr BBDO was charge<] with identifying various service programs (~Jre prevention was among those suggested) for public relatlons purposes. The Agency forwarded its proposal and suggested some prellminary research to determir~ the potentlal downside of relatlng the tobacco Industry (cigarette ~oking) with fire preventlon. The public service program was later dropped from consideration. - ~ l~ce~ber R3R concluded that the "prL~e prospect" for SO~AS related projects should be the voter. O . 0~

January 1978 • - On January II, Mr. Califano (HEW) announcedm, ambitious govern- taent antl-smoklng program. - BBDO conducted a hotllne regardin~ Mr. Califano's statement on ~anuary 12. Results were that 72% were aware of this announcement~ 56% on an unaided basis. CalIfano was personally Identified by 21% of those aware. - Based on the December focus groups, ~BDO began writing ads to the four basic poStioning statements. On January 24 a meeting was held in W/S with JP, where the Agency presented 24 print ads {3 a~s each of 8 campaign ideas written to 4 strategies}. MC sul~plled detailed Legal oo~ments. ~P invited the Agency to present the creative to Messrs. Stlcht and Stokes in early February. ]n January 1978 the Tobacco Institute tested two ads ('Good Green Eand', =Tobacco Leaf") to determine their ability to generate a favorable attitudinal shift toward the industry. The ads were tested in =family" states a~] received dJrectlonally If not slgnl- flcantly positive results.

"8- Also in January, a study was cor~uctedby V. L. ~arrance in California to gauge attitudes toward a proposed California smokin9 restriction law. Taere was significant sup~rt for the law among ~1 se~ents samp. led. However attitudes in favor of the law . droppod as costs to the taxpayer increased. ~ January 31,. ~ National Commission on .~Okil~ arx~ Publ|c Policy r~nded a far-reaching antl-s~oking I~cogram whlch was .covered l~road]y by the media. .February - B~DO conducted a ~1~. t_line" regarding this announcement on February 1. 51% of tha population was aware of the announcement. -- l~ased on sugo.estions from the January 24 co[:~, meeting and subse .~uent ~llseusslon at BBDO, creative development proceeded on 10 J6eas (5 of the original 8 from the January 24 meeting and 5 new ideas). ~heae were sb~n to HC, (~, ard RR at BBDO on February 2. At this l~eeting Agency Hanagement {TD) presented 12 possible SC~AS positions arfl strategies that were considered for develo~ent. After revlewirg tJ~ pros and cons of each position TD recommended one strategy ~noke Does Not Cause Disease In Non-Smokers") as most llkely tb affect • tJ~e outcome of present anti-smoklng propaganda. ~Ihe primary reasons fo~ pursuelrg this strategy were twofold as follows.: a.) anti- l~mokirg forces are presently attemptlrg to co~unlcate that passive l~oklrg is harmful, ard b) if successful, a t~oker could not then defend his p~sition on the grounds that he is only hurting himself. ~I~ raed for concise ard belleveable substantiation for the recommended strategy was underscored along with the need to reach voters on

l~b~.ic opinion records as ~vell as opinion le~lers, D~e ~ ~ strop. ~t ~e eventuel ~ ad(s) ~ strai~ht-for~ ~d ~"sllck" ~ ~at ~ ~uld not ~ive t~ ~ressi~ ~ck~ ~ substantial ~acco I~ustry dollars. ~Itionally, it r~e~ that L~ ~s ~ test~ u~er tight 1~rato~ ~itlo~ ~rm~e ~e d~r~ of attitude ~ift ~at might ~ exactS. s~est~ ~at.o~y th~ s~d test m~ket~ ~ ~nslder~ sin~ a, fo~ ~st ~ket mi~ht result ~ a ~ter-at~ck ~g ~arted ~ ~fore ~y S~ natlon~ effort, ~ ~re~ bl~ti~ t~ ~ntent of o~ ,~s~ge. February 2-3, W. ~Ire, Y~e ~]~y Professor, revle~ ~ ~Isc~sions ~nflrm~ ~ver~ ~jor principles guid~ "issue" ~vertlsi~ a~ s~estlo~ ~re offer~ ~tion ~ct for ~I~ ~ subjectively r~u~ t~ n~r of c~_a~ for s~ ~ent ~stin~. S~kes w~ ~st~n~ ~til Febru~y ~0.

- On February 9 the Agenc~ Ceviewed this .¢¢esentatton with 0P~ DO~ HC~ a~ RS. Agency Management (TD) ~gain p~esented the BSDO position on passive snoking. - On February i0, Agency Management gave a presentation of SOSAS creative development to date to the RJR Publlc Relations Management. -. On February 10, a meeting was held with Messrs. Stlcht and Stokes at£er~Ing. A limited selection of SOSAS creative was presented (i ad each for 6 campai~ ideas). Agency Management (TD} presented BBDO's position regardirg how and why passive smoking should be the key SOSAS . ~sue versus several other visbie positions. ~he presentation was favor- ably received ar~ general approval was given to reflne the creative for eventual copy testing. On February 14 BBDO conducted a hotllne on the meaning of the word "disease.= Concluslon: =Disease is what you can catch~ what you do to yourself is not a disease.= On February 21 JP and I]C updated the Tobacco Institute on SOSAS Ixogress to date. - on February 22 BBDO updated CT on SOSAS. 0 0 o~