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~

- On February 22 a meeting was held at BBDO bergen RJ'R Legal (MC, F.J, ~) and Agency Legal and Management to discuss and refine - cow from tho February 10 meeting. J~ong o~her things It was agreed that the basic "disease" claim must be qualified and that ~ Surgeon General "Warnlng" label would be required in SOSAS ads. - On February 23 BBDO upc]ated Mr. R. Aurello of F~elman Xnc., regarding SOSAS creative. Agency Management presented its passive Im~oklng p3sition ..as weli as le al oo~ments from the February 22 meeting. Mr Aurelio also reiterated the confirming ~delman position that all their research to date showed that non-smoker health was Ere root of the overall SOSAS issue. BBDO pzovlded ~M. Aurello with specific scientlflc quotes to aid in an Edelman white paper on the subject. - On February 27 Agency Management (TD) reported the Aurello meeting %o Mr. Ron Sustana by letter. • - As a resultof these mee%Ings, subsequent conversatlons and ' spor~ence, it was dec~ded that BBDO should concentrate all creative o efforts on the passive ~oking ~ssue ~n antIclpatlon of Impendlng co~, ~esearch. • O O •

- -In February an A~verttsing Image St'u~y was con~luctecl by Peruzzi ar~ Walzer, urger the direction of BBDO, ~) gauge the perception of smokers as typified in cigarette advertising. It was foun~ that ~n general, people ~o not identify ~smokers wlth the positlve attributes they relate to their friends. However, smokers as portra).ed in a~vertts~ are more likely than "actual" smokers to be identified as frier~s. __March - On March 21 PJR r..~cjuest~ BBDO to re-consider "courtesy" as well as ~ =corporate p~oflt" approach a~d asked that work on these two areas be developed along with the basic p~ssive s~oking creative. At a March 28 meeting in NYC, SC presented rationale for re-examining ~ "courtesy" position. I~DO presented creative in the passive smoking, courtesy, a~d corporate profit areas. It was agreed to hold a ~rk session on April 5 to review how courtesy oould be integrated w~th the basic passive smoking advertising. Ad~itlonally CT asked BBDO %0 ~evelop SOSAS promotional ideas (e.g. carton stuffers). Based on the March 28 meeting, BBDO forwarded revised "Corporate Profit" and "Basic" a~s £o CT on March 31.

A work session was held on April 5 with CT at BBDO. New courtesy a~s ('Look Before You Light') w~re presented including ~all space ~s, outdoor, and POP examples. Additionally several examples .introducing courtesy into existing ads were presented, along with ulxlated promotional materials (booklets ar~ ~arton stuffer "d~mmtes'). ~ r~uested revised copy for the courtesy ad, additional-'t~0kiets addressed to the family (i.e. employees, salesmen, growers), an~ examples of current ads which included people. ~hese requests w~.re developed ard forwarded to CT in April; On April 11 Phase I of the Segmentation Study was approved. The Phase I objective was to identify ar~ evaluate .key population segments relevant to the tobacco industry. On Aprll 15 cor[espondenoe from W. McGulre confirmed that attitudes can be changed on social issues through only one presentation of a persuasive conmunication. This input supported the BBDO research design for testing S0SAS ads. On April 27 W. Shinn approved using "Health Bazard" in the basic This ad (the California ad) would be tested along with the basic =diseaso" ad and courtesy ad. 0 0

-14- • ~ - On May 2, Edelman Inc. issued its rationale fo~ _not forming a S~okers' Alliance, T~e pcimary ~eason was that people consideE tl~ "right to smoke" argument as weak. - On May 16 a revised "California" (health hazard) ad was forwarded - On }~y 25 BBDO forwarded a stmmlary of secondary sources identifying problems and opportunities in countering t~e alleged health costs. arK] p~oductivity..losses related to smoking. - ]~esults were received in May frcm the Roper Study sponsored by • the Tobacco Institute• The study conflrmad the Importance of the passive smoking issue (2/3 non-.smokers, i/2 smokers believe) ar~ the r~ed for developing m%d publicizing medical evidence to the contrary. Additionally there appeared to be growing acceptance of more government involvement in the regulation of ~,oking. - ~>cus groups were conducted in May as a preliminary phase .of the • ~arger Segmentation .Study• ~ne purpose was to Identlfy possible , population segment~, against whi6h to target future S0~AS efforts. l~o new information %as obtained as the research could not identify any special group sympathetic to tobacco Ir~ustry positions. o O o •

• Oon.._.~e - l~esulks ~re received in June from the BBDO conducted oo1~/ research of 3 ads designed to shi[t public attitudes toward smoking issues. ~ne more direc~ passive s~oking ad ("Basic Disease ~") cause~ large positive attitude shifts in the general population ard direo- tlonally positive shifts amon~ opinion leaders. =Courtesy" had ~Ittle effect in shlftlrg attitude. I - A second tracking of attitudes toward the proposed CallfoCnla s~oking restriction was conducted by V. L. Tarranoe in June. Attitudes were still positive towards the restriction with the major issue beirg l~asslve s~oklrg..- Focus groups ~re also oonducted in California to determine attitudes t~ward the "Clean Indoor Air Act." There was no general interest in ~ act amorg s~okers or non-smokers, with most respondents regarding ~ act as nonsensical. - In June BBD0 supplie~ representative media plans of a t~Ical e|garette brand along with a prototypical plan of an. advertiser ~argettlng specifically at the teenage market. ~ne ~urpose was to refute alle~atlons that the |r~]ustry was targettlrg its marketirg efforts against youth toy in£1uence an early smoking ~]eclsion. ~ne t~ sutmitted plans were signiflcantly dissimilar. 0 . 0

- Xn June BBDO supplied the sources cited by HEW as the basis for Mr. Califano's estimated costs of business productivity loss and increased medical expenses caused by smoking. - On ~une 20, a review of S0~AS research to date was corx~ucted 'W/S with ~P, DO, S:, Mr, t'T, I~ as well as BBD0 research personnel. - On ~une 28, PJR MRD suggested proceeding ~ Phase II of t~e Segnentation Study. - On Oune 29, W. Mcguire reported that he had reviewed the results of the attitude shift research of the three SOSAS ads tested. W. McGuire agreed that the methodology worked well and with the conclusion that the two "passive smoking" ads had sizeable attitude shifts while the "coortesy= ad was not particularly successful..|~ ... ...... - On 3uly 17 Agency Management (TD) addressed the Tobacco Institute ar~ presented BBDO's position on why passive ~m%oklng was the key • SC6AS issue over Ii other viable directions. Additionally TD reiterated why the specific ads should be straight forward and "non-sl ick." ..

-17- • - On July 27 it ~s doctded by C~ and HRD to discontinue furtho¢ york on the Se~nentation Study since the expected valu~ of Phase ~! ~nfo~ation ~as not considered co~nensurate~ with its ~ost, - In July BBD0 developed three alternative SOSAS media plans at (~Ifferent budget levels with each targeted against adults involved in any public activity (e.g. voted, etc.). August - Results were received in August from the attitude shift research regarding the "Businessman" a~. Research results were dlrectlonaily. positive, but no~. significant. - On August 18, the Tobacco Institute instructed BBDO tO release the .. "Basic Disease" ed to Intermedia for the purpose of testing Jt ~nder "real world" conditions. ~he ad was run In newspapers In El Paso, Tex., and Madison, Wisc. for a one month period (2 inser- t|ons per woek}. Results w~_re inconclusive since the ad only ran o~o month and generated only 7% awareness. • - .On August 9, at Dr. Colby's request, I~3DO forwarded a review of • seoondary sources and studles r.elatlrg to t~e effect of cigarette , advertising in creating brand switching versus category expansion. O

. - A third trackin9 oE the propose~ California restriction ~ras coc,~ucted In August. Attitudes were still positive towards the restriction, ~ attitude .was amenable to change if meaningful argtments against the restriction could be co, municate<]. Additlonally It appeared that passive s~oklng as an issue can change attitude, but still may pot change behavior {i.e. voting Intentlon). ,September- In September 1978 a Tobacco Forth was held by several Southeastern Congressmen to provide public doctmentatlcn of passive smoking medical facts. The pres.s generally downplayed the Fort~ and its expert testimony "due to the fact that family legislators were (x)nductlng the procedure. - In Scpte,T~r P~DDO supplled a correlation analysis between deflated cigarette advertising expenditures and per capita cigarette const~ptlon (~er the last twenty years• ~he purpose of the analysis was to refute allegations that c|garette advertising increased consumption as opposed to the ~ndustry's contention that advertising was intended to differentlat~ -.. .amorg brands. The analysis showed virtually r~o correlation between . advertising and oonst~ptlon.

• ~Octobe_[ - At a meeting on October 3 it was reaffimed to discontinue the Segmentation Study. Information. still desired from the Study ~ Public Affairs will be gathered by more speclf~ research (~eslgns. In early October, results of attitudinal research conducted by Civic Service among the =family~ were presented. Basically R3R employees do not differ significantly from the general population regarding attitude towards SOSAS issues. However it was decided to t~dertak~ an educational effort among PJR employees.