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~AN, SLATI ON • Article from "PARIS-MATCH"~ No. 248t 26th Dec. - 2nd Jan.~ 1954 : i II ii in 1946, for violation of coallti6n laws ("d~lit de coalition")~ the three big companies indulged in a state of competition~ which rationalists considered to be as free from fake as a "catch" contest. In spite of there being a few outsiderst of whom Philip Morris was the main one. they most certainly dominated the market. In 1949, Lucky Strike had yielded the first place to Camel~ but, thanks to Pall Mall and some secondary brands, American Tobacco still represented 32 ~ of the salest as against Reynolds 27 ~ and Liggett and Myers 18 %. If ever there was an industrial barometer at set fair, then the cigarette-manufacturers had it only a few months ago. The powerful and picturesque originality of that vast American industry constituted its publicity. In the Universi%~es~ in the "merchandising" (commercial) courses, unsuspected Dy zne economxc philistines of Europe, it was studied llke a classic. Lucky Strike was the most ingenious brand, although the excellent tone("tenue"I firmness) of the Camels pleaded in favour of more restrained publicity. The slogan andthe refrain:Be-Nappy-Go-Lucky, %he monogram- riddle: L~T (Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco) and, later9 on television, the charming ballet of the cigarettes - "too good~" say the specialists, " because the spectacle monopolises the attention to the detriment of the product" - represented a never-ending flow of lucky finds. Actors and actresses9 famous men and women were naturally hired to show off th: clgarette~ thereby nutting into appllcation the idea of "snob appeal" or sentiment, whlch makes the masses want to consume the same products as the rich, the ~ll-known and the admired. 60 million dollars for %he whole cigarette-lndustry, including 46 millions in the case of the "Big Three"~ were devoted to this vast effort every year. H~ver, in all this eigarette-publlcity, there was a curious featurep giving evidence of an innate weaknessI profound .fear and almost a suDoressed feeling of guilt. It was ag~essive in its vltality and its vast extent, but it was defensive, inasmuch as it always sought to forestall any possible reproaches with regard to the noxious quality of tobacco. The ideal of American Tobacco~ of Reynolds, of Liggett and Myers~ of Philip Morris and of all the others would have been to have affirmed ~seen that medical authorities affirmed that their products were not only hsrmless~ but health-giving ana wholesome. All went as

"IO TRANSLA~; O~ z Article from "PARIS-MATCH" No. 248, 26th Dec. - 2nd Jan., 1954 : far as they could along this road. Lucky Strike launched their formula:(i.e.catchword)"It's Toasted", thus implying that their cigarettes did not irritate the throat. Second- line brands~ like Kool and Old Gold asserted that they gave protection against colds or covered themselves with audacious assertions, such as: "Not a cough in a carload". The Camels would not let themselves be outdone and declared that they were beneficial for athletes and alsos"Hore doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette." In any country other than America, this defensive propaganda, this struggle against the incoercible fear inspired by tobacco would have degenerated into a mad competitive system with medical reports, which they would have tried to wrest from doctors at ransom prices, playing a major r53e. But, contrary to general opinion~ American advertisin~ is not a fantastically unbridled institution, a game in ~:hich everything is allowed (i.e. nothing considered as e foul). It is, on the contrary, subject to laws of commercial morality, of which few Europeans have any conception. The FTC~ One OI you is no better than the othe~s.~Dd- you are not worth anvthin~:(i.e. All worth the sa~. which i@ not hin~.), In this field of activity, the restrnlning influence is c~lled the federal Trade Commission, or FTC} an old govern~ntal orEanisation~ created in 1915, ~trengthened in 1938, the mission of the FTC is to forbid dishonest commercial practices and especially attempts to deceive consumers by me~ns of un~arr.untable asse1-~ions with regard to quality. ~. 20: Heading. and Illustrations: One cigarette less per day means a loss of 235 m/ilion. These advertisements are now forbidden, es the FTC have considered all cigarettes to be harmful. Lucky Strike saids "Without danger"; Camel - "No irritation of the throat". Marilym Monroe may be led to say that Vesuvius noodles have an exquisite flavour - a question of subjective appreciation - or that they make one swoon with pleasure - ~fnich is a matter of individual reaction - bu~ Vesuvius noodles cannot assert that they contain more gluten than(the)other noodles or that they can combat baldness, if this is not a true and proved fact. It is the same with cigarettes. All the brands have endeavoured to base their advertising upon the claim that they are harmless, or more harmless thnn their rivalsv- c c

11 Article from "PARIS-MATCH", No. 248, 26th Dec. 2nd Jan. ~ 1954 : , , , i ,m i (identical) and, one after the other~ they hav~ had to give up this theme of health. TlLe~o most recent examples, dating back to the beginning of 1953, concern Philip Morris .~ud Chester- field who flattered themselves that they did not cause any irritation to the throats of smokers. Considerin~ that all cigarettes are irritant, and that they are all more or less equally irritant~ the FTC called upon Chesterfield and P11ilip Morris to cease this advertising. The necessity for reassuring propaganda is, however, considered to be so great that no cigarette is ~illing to giw this up. That is why they all call themselves "mild" or "very mild" or "the mildes~" --a question of taste left to the jud@ment (discretion) of each one, end therefore out of reach of the laWe One brand, Old Gold, the wroperty of the "fourth great concern", P. Lorillnrd, even nrefers %o claim equality in the field of noxiousness, rather than let the subject drop altogether. "No cigarette ~rith a great name,"it is stated, "is less irritant or less ~ainful for the throat or contains less nicotine than Old Gold." The FTC have no objection, as thez have been told by their laboratories that the coun~osition of cignrettes is very much the ~ (in all cases)~ and their physiological effect practically identical. ~ut the exmnmle sneaks vol~w~es about the f~ar co~p. lex that h~s a~sys lingered st the heart of the business. ~nri~. 19~s Sh~ ci~arett~ is on the dmcn ~rade ~or the firs% The crisis has now arrived. It had perhaps been building up for some time in the form of a certain disaffect- Zion to -#E~-~e~ tobacco on the part of the male sex! - to such an extent that it had become a kind of game to try and establish how mamy men had stopped smoking, whilst women were encircling themselves with ever denser clouds of smoke. But this c,Arious phenomenong probably connected with the eternal rivalry between the sexes, did not constitute a big headache for[did not worry very much) an industry which, at the end of 1952, announced record results and issued the most d=zzling forecasts. For January, February and March. the amount of the fiscal receipts from tobacco confirmed this rosy vision. Then something snapped. April, 1953 was 1.64% lower than April, 1952, which would not have meant anything at all, if the fall had not been trebled in May and sextupled in June, and if July had not brought it to %h~ really alarming proportion of 11.19 %. There was a recovery in the c

12 TR AN SLATI ON, Article from "PARIS-MATCH", Nn.248, 26th De.. - 2nd Jan., 1954 s course of the summer, but~ taking ~nto acco~mt the interest sho~m in the conclusions of Graham and Nynder~ the results for the auturm, which are not yet knownt t.hreaten to he disheartez~In~. It is at the vex~j least established that cigarette-consumption, instead of havin_~ incrensed from 3 to 5 ~. as in the other years, will have gone do~au~ perhap~ by ~i ~qual amount. The" Amerlca of 1953 ~n~ll have smoked a few thousand million cigarettes fewer than the America of 19~2. ~.~o...~.,~-.= The sensitivity of the market~ the vastness of the sums involve~s illustrated by the following cainulation: if ewry American smoker lights up one cigarette !e~s per day, that is enough to make the sales go doom by 700,000 dollars - 235 million French francs 9~r day. P. 22: He~dlp~: 2~uman ~u.iDea-ui~$, .~eeide the tob~c~9- conflict by their death: The battle is not at an end. The case in question will perhaps not be given a full hearing until the most Lmuosing medical investigation of all time h~s produced its findings. It began in 1951, under the zusuices of th~ American Cancer Society, and with the assistance of 27,000 vol~u~tary ~.uvestig-~tors~ spread over nine States, including New York, Pennsylvania ~ Illinois and California. 210,000 men, aged between fifty and sixty-nine years~ (therefore reuresenting a field in ~vllich cancer had had time to ratio.e) were question- ed about their smoking habits past and present. They die off at the rate of about fifteen per day, and the case of each one of them is classified under the direction of two scholars of the Cancer Society~ Doctors Cuyler IMJmnond m~d Daniel Horn. But no indicaZion ~ill be given until 1955, and. in the meantime~ there can be free and open discussion. Those who challenge the findings of the Graham-Wynder t~am, bring forward above all the idea that the acknowledged increase~.. in cases of cancer of the lungs can be attributed %o causes other tlmn the spread of the cigarette. It is not the only item that soal~s humanity in tarry products. The asphalt on the roads (wl~eh is moreover disappearing in America and making way for concrete)~ industrial smoke and that coming from the traffic can just as well be accused. After ally the fifty million motor cars in the United States are still the greatest producers of smoke in the nation. ~D

13 TRANSLATION: Article from "PARIS-MATCH", No. 248, 26th Dec. - 2nd Jan., 1954 : I i l| . The manufacturers answer the chal!eneet "Kin~ Sizg" and fi~Iter- ,: One can excuse the fact that the most bitter protesta- tions come from the heads of the cigarette-industry. For a long time, they thought that it was wisest to be silent, but the falling-of/ in their business finally wrung from them either curses or sarcasm. The first men to speak was Paul Hahn, director of the American Tobaccot and the person who spoke most vigorously was his direct rival, E.A. DarrI chairman of Reyno!d'So "The thesis(i.e, argument) associating cigarette- smoking with cancer of the lungs," he declared,"rests on the affirmation of two men only, and it is not taken into consid- eration by many doctors. It will collapse Just as the silly old story attributing tuberculosis to tobacco has collapsed. The cigarette is accused on the strength of specious statistics, because consumption increased at the same time as lung-cancer did. It would be Just as logical to maintain that the cigar- ette prolongs life, because the average length of life has extended side by side with the spread of the cigarette." In spite of this brilliant 9iece of dialectics, the American Medical Association have Just intimated in their report that they would refuse the advertisements of clgarette-firms after Ist January~ 1954. The body of doctors, moreover, protest against the advertisement entitled "Man in White", in which, on television, a tout dressed in a white overall and speaking in a setting vaguely similar to a laboratory or a doctor's consultlng-room, extols cigarettes. The very least consequences that the present crisis can have will be in the form of genuine transformations in the product attacked. The large cigarette model or King Size (85.mm. instead of 70) which was launched before the war by Pall Mall, had merely been a curiosity (novelty) for a lone time. For two years it has been setting to work to conquer ~he market, on which it is now re~resented by eight brands: Dunhill, Chesterfield, Philip Morris, Cavalier, etc.). Reason: its greater length is supposed to give it greater filtering power (on condition, however, that it is not smoked right as far as the tip) and it brings into the mouth~ the bronchi and the lungs a smoke which is not so hot and there- fore less active. The filter-tlp cigarette~ which is a more logical answer to the critics, is prospering even more royally than the King Size. It used to be represented by only two independent brands (Parliament and Viceroy)s totalling less -_. than 1 ~ of sales. Then suddenly it is in great request and

TRANSLATION: Article from "FARIS-~TCH" t No.248~ 26th Dec. - 2nd Jan.~ 1954 • the giants, Reynolds and Amerlcan Tobacco.had it announced that they are working on (studying) a fil~er system. These are merely palliatives. The only action that would come anTwhere near to being a remedy would hsve to consist in identifying the ean~erous element in those chemloally veT7 complex bodies, the tars, with a view to eliminating it. Although they ~efuse to confirm the matter9 in order not ~o appear guilt7 or even anxious~ the big cigarette companies have given considerable grants to several Cancer Institutes so that the latter can speed up their research-worE. For the Companies~ it is a question of life or death. If the sinister prediction of Dr. Ochaner were proved truer if the population of the United States were to be"decimated by cancer in the coming fifty years on account of the rise in the consumption of cigsrettes", the government and the Congress would certainly be obliged to intervene. Moreover, America would not be the only country in which this problem would arise. Raymond CARTIER.