Abstract
In August 1969 all the citizens the town of Greenfield, Iowa attempted to quit smoking as a publicity stunt connected with the on-site filming of the movie Cold Turkey. Philip Morris (PM) surveyed the citizens 8 months after their quit attempt. PM used local Girl Scouts to hand-deliver the questionnaires to citizens (to increase the acceptance of the packets). They paid $5 to everyone who completed and returned a survey. The Girl Scouts were instructed to knock on doors and give a questionnaire packet to "every person who was 14 years old on Cold Turkey Day."
This report contains Philip Morris' analysis of the success of citizens' efforts to go "Cold Turkey" and the unpleasant side effects they experienced. PM's descriptions are entertaining, chauvinistic and, of course, paint a dismal picture of quitting smoking:
"Even after eight months quitters were apt to report having neurotic symptoms, such as feeling depressed, being restless and tense, being ill-tempered, having a loss of energy, being apt to doze off, etc. They were further troubled by constipation...As can be seen from Table 3, the...differences among male smokers were sizable, but the female data are the most startling. The anti-smoking campaign failed to persuade the women to quit. We can only conjecture at the reasons for the failure: --perhaps it is because women are better at running their husbands' lives then their own... --perhaps it is because busy housewives are less exposed to anti-smoking arguments, or less responsive to logical argument, or less apt to participate in community affairs...It is also possible that [smokers who] wish to stay off smoking have learned from experience that alcohol weakens their resolve. A sad picture is painted of the quitter who used to enjoy himself at a party, now restricted to coffee, fruit juice and coke, turning his back on the swingers in the kitchen in order to hover around the candy and peanut tray among the staid old gossips in the parlor. After one or two such experiences he probably quits partying altogether...The net effect of the extra food at mealtime and the snacks of candy, nuts, ice cream and coke had its predictable consequence: the quitters report more trouble with constipation and much more trouble with weight gain. This is not the happy picture painted by the Cancer Society's anti-smoking commercial which shows an exuberant couple leaping into the air kicking their heels with joy because they've kicked the habit. A more appropriate commercial would show a restless, nervous, constipated husband bickering viciously with his bitchy wife, who is nagging him about his slothful behavior and growing waistline."
Fields
- Quotes
BIRD is our in-house code name for the study of an intensive anti-smoking campaign in Greenfield, Iowa. Greenfield (population 2100) made an effort to go "Cold Turkey" as a community, with all smokers in town encouraged dto quit smoking abruptly at the same time. The procedure paralleled the anti-smoking effort depicted in "Eagle Rock, Iowa" by the film, "Cold Turkey", which was released January 30, 1971, by United Artists.
...For present purposes it is enough to recall that this became a major anti-smoking effort among a group of mid-Americans noted for their integrity and sincereity; that is was accompanied by miscellaneous strong social pressures which rewarded abstinence from and discouraged return to the act of smoking; and that it was accompanied by a spotlight of regional and national publicity unprecedented in the lives of the people involved. There have been other community-wide anti-smoking campaigns, but this one was unique because of the parallels with the motion picture, the presence of the actors and camera crew, the employment of many citizens as extras in scene after scene, etc. For over a month the lives of the people of Greenfield became almost inextricably interwoven with the lives of their fictional counterparts in "Eagle Rock." As film star Dick Van Dyke was to comment later on national television, 'It was crazy...you couldn't tell where the film let off and the town began."...
PROCEDURE
Distribution and Return Rate
The questionnaire packets were distributed door-to-door within the Greenfield city limits by local teenagers, most of whome were Girl Scouts. Each packet consisted of a cover letter, a basic questionnaire...a personality test...and a postage paid pre-addressed envelope. The girls, who were seldom turned away from a door as strangers would have been, gave out 1592 packets. Their instructions were to leave a packet for every person who has 14 years old or older on Cold Turkey Day. We estimate that there are 600 children in Greenfield beneath the age of 14, and the preliminary 1970 census report shows Greenfield's population to be 2212, so that it appears we did contact almost al the eligibles (2212-600=1612).
- Company
- Philip Morris
- Author
- Ryan, Frank J. (PM Scientist)
Philip Morris scientist (circa 1973), developed smoker puff-profiles, compiled data on compensation and lip occlusion of ventilation holes. Associate Senior Scientist with PM, c. 1987.
- Recipient
- Cullman, Joseph Frederick III (PM President & CEO (1957-1970))
Executive vice president and senior marketing executive of Philip Morris in the 1950s. Exec. VP 1955-57. President in 1958, held that position until 1967. Chairman from 1968-1972 and acquired title of CEO. Chairman of the Executive Committee, 1979-85. On the Board of Directors from 1954-1985.
- Weissman, George (PM Chairman & CEO '79-84)
Vice President of Philip Morris from 1954 to 1956. Vice President and Assistant to the President in 1957. Vice President of Marketing from 1958-59. Executive Vice President of Marketing in 1960. Exec. VP Overseas in 1961, Exec. VP PM International 1962-66. President from 1967 to 1972. President and Chief Operating Officer in 1973. Vice Chairman from 1974-78. Chair and CEO from '79-84 and on the Board of Directors from 1959-84. "Mastermind" of Philip Morris' direction.
- Millhiser, Ross R (TI Executive Committee, PM Pres, 1968)
Ross Millhiser was Vice President of Philip Morris in 1952, VP and Director of Marketing at PM 1961-62, President of PM USA in 1970-72, President of PM Inc. in 1977, Chair of the Tobacco Institute Executive Committee and Vice Chairman of PM Inc. in 1979, Chairman of the Board of PM in 1980.
The above information is gleaned from correspondence found within the Philip Morris collection of documents. The assumption is made that Millhiser worked at Philip Morris the entire time between 1952-1994, based on his correspondence during those dates, however nothing has been found in the documents verifying his positions at PM during the gaps in time noted above.
President of Philip Morris in 1968 Millheiser was with Philip Morris in 1983 in New York. Knew that profitability of PM derived from addictive nature of nicotine. Why risk multi-billion dollar business for your rats, Victor.
- Cullman, Howard S. "Hugh" (PM Inc., President 1957-67, CEO '67-78)
Howard "Hugh" Cullman was the brother of Joseph Cullman Jr. He was president of Philip Morris, Inc. from 1957-67, Chairman of Board and CEO of PM 1967-78, Chairman of Executive Committee of the Board 1978.
- Goldsmith, Clifford Henry (B&H (1953), PM Chief of Operations ('65) Pres of PM, Inc. (')
1953 Benson & Hedges. 1965 Philip Morris USA Chief of Operations. 1969-73 President of Philip Morris, Inc. 1978 PM Chief Executive. Served on Tobacco Institute Executive Committee, 1979.
- Landry, John T. (VP of PM 1970-76. Sr. VP '77-83, Dir. of Marketing '84)
Vice President for Philip Morris, Inc. from 1970-76. Became a Senior Vice President in 1977 and held that position until 1983. Was named Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing in 1984 and served on PM's Board of Directors from 1973-84. Served as memer of the Social Acceptability Working Party of ICOSI, c. 1978
- Bowling, James Chandler (PM; TI, Corporate Affairs Director & VP; Board of Dir.)
Vice President and Director of Sales at Philip Morris from 1967 to 1976. He was Senior Vice President of PM from 1977 to 1984 and on the Board of Directors from 1971 to 1984. Also worked for the Tobacco Institute. Attempted to improve the image of smoking in the face of negative health news.
- Lincoln, Jetson E. (VP Philip Morris)
Director and Assistant Director of MR, VP of Strategic Research, Director of Marketing-Planning Tobacco Production-Consumer Product Division, and most recently VP.
- Seligman, Robert B. (PM VP of R&D c. 1976-82)
Vice President of Research and Development at Philip Morris Richmond, VA 1976-1982. Reported to Senior Vice President of Operations. In 1982 transferred to tobacco technology group. Wanted to share ammonia and other tobacco technology with PM International companies.
- Udow, Alfred (Consumer Research Dept., PM c. 1972)
PM Consumer Research and Marketing Departments. Famous for intemperate written comments. Told the truth.
- Fountaine, S.
- Pollack, Shepard P. "Shep" (PM President c. 1979-80)
Served on PM Board of Directors 1980-83, also served as PM chief of operations (circa 1980-82) and president of PM circa 1979-80. Served as CTR Treasurer.
- Holtzman, Alexander (PM Asst General Counsel. 1975-85.)
- Wakeham, Helmut R. R., Ph.D. (PM R&D VP)
Vice President and Director of Research & Development, Philip Morris
- Resnik, Frank Edward (Vice Pres., then Pres. and Chairman of Bd, Philip Morris)
TI Executive Committee. Prot駩 of Clifford Goldsmith. Vice President Philip Morris, Inc. from 1979 to 1984. President in 1984 and served on the Board of Directors from 1985 to 1989.
- Thomson, Ronald H. (PM Europe President)
President, PM Europe
- Fagan, Raymond (PM Principal Scientist c. 1968-83)
Principal Scientist at Philip Morris Research Center in Richmond, Virginia, between around 1968-84.
- Eichorn, Paul A. (Worked with PM)
- Region
- United States
- Greenfield, Iowa
- Type
- Report
- Subject
- smoking cessation
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2501200339
Cooy No.
Issued to
C~N~aE,~TI~L
This report contains information which is
CONFIDENTIAL to the business of the Company.
The information must be carefully handled
and not divulged to outside sources without
express authorization.
This report is signed out to you individually.
It is not transferable and must not be repro-
duced. Please return it to the Research Center
Records Facility when it is no longer useful.
Project 1600
March, 1971
0
.. .. ..., s~
EIRDI A STUDY OF TiiE QUIT-SMGKING
CAMPAIGN IN GRENFIELD. IOWA, IN
CONJUNCTION WITH THE MOVIE,
C0L2 TuP_KFy
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i
71006 Copy 'to.
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I Issued to
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I-
C0N;:7DEN77AL
This report contains information which is
CONFIDENTIAL to the business of the Company.
The information must be'carefully handled
and not divulged to outside sources without
express authorization.
This report is signed out to you individually.
It Is not transferable and must not be repro-
duced. Please return it to the Research Center
Records Facility when it is no longer useful:
I
t
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Project 1600
March, 1971
BIRIl-I A STUDY OF THE QUIT-SMOKING
CAMPAIGN IN GRE_NFIEL.O. IOWA.
CONJUNCTION WITN THE MOVIE.
Can T1jp 1csy
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APPROVED BY L~^-- l
W. L. Dunn, Jr.
,
distribution ~ ~.
J. Cullman J. Qawling A. Holtzman ~
G.
R. Weissman
Miilhiser J.
R. Lincoln
Seligman H.
F. 'aakeham
R e s n i k C.? a
.:. ~
H.
C.
J. Cul iman
Goldsmith
Landry A.
S.
S. Udow
i:ountaine
Pollack R.
R.
P. Thomson
Fagan
Eicnorn (Z U)
a.+
y
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CGNF7:ENT1qL
TABL~E OF COtlTEN TS
SUMMARY ' I
INTRODUCTION 2
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 4
PROCEDURE _ S
DISTRIBUTION AND RETURN RATE S
QUESTIONNAIRES AND FORM LETTERS 6
PROCESSING 714E DATA $
RESULTS L'
IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESULTS 1~
SMOKER PARTICIPATION 13
~
CIGARE?TE TYPES 20
CONSUMPTION OF SNACK FOODS AND BE`lERAGES 22
NERVOUS MANNERISMS 25
CHANGES 114 CONSUMPTION OF MEDICINES 23
MINOR HEALTH PROBLE.4S 30
APPENDICES
1- EXCERPTS FROM EARLIER MEMOS ON E`JENTS OF COLD TURKEY DAY
Z- ABBRVIATIONS USED IN THE STUDY
3- CRITICISM OF RESPONDENT ACCURACY
.
4 - E'/.CERPTS FROM. MEMO ON A SECOND QUIT-StAOKI`1G a,TTE:?PT i`I
THE SAME TOWN
THE BALLOT AND ItJSTRUCTION SHEET ti+ IV
,-~ r
6' THE 16 P,F, TEST BOOKLET C ~
7 - THE FE EDBACX LETTER CJ
- ~
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$~ AN E:.4a11Pl.E OF A TYPICAL DATA SHEET ~ ~
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S U M M A R Y
c0N7,0ZNTIA
L
The town of Greenfield, towa, atternpted to quit smoking
in August, 1969, as a publicity stunt connected with the on
site filming of the movie, Cold Turkey. We interviewed
townsoeople 8 months later. This report covers the success
of their effort to go "Cold Turkey" and the unpleasant side
effects they experienced. A later report will relate their
success to their personality. Only 37:4X of the town's
smokers tried to quit, but 55.3% of the would-be quitters
(or 20.7% of the town's smokers) succeeded in giving up
smoking for at least a month. Eight months later, 28.3% ot
those who had tried to quit were still nonsmokers (or 10.6'%
of the original smoking population.) Men were more successful
at quitting than women. Health filter smokers were most apt ~
to try and quit and were most apt to be successful. Konfilter
and 85 mm filter smokers were least apt to try to quit, 85 mm
filter smokers were least apt to be successful.
Quitters ate and nibbled more nuts, gum, candy, etc.,
than they used to; but they didn't drink any more bear or
liquor-
Those quitters who had minor nervous mannerisms report
them more of a probiem than before. Control groups do not
reDort the problem.
Ther! Wers no increases in use of pills and medicines
associated with quitting.
Even after eight months quitters were apt to report
having neurotic symptoms, such as feeling depressed, being
restless and tense, being ill-tempered, having a loss of
ener?y, being apt to doze off, etc. They wert further
troubled by constipation and weight gains which aver3ged
about 5 lbs. per quitter.
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I N T R 0 D U C T 1 0 N
-
BIRD is our in-house code name for the study of an
intensive anti-smoking campaign In Greenfield, Iowa. Green-
field (population 2100) made an effort to go °cold turkey" as
a community, with all smokers in town encouraged to quit
smoking abruptly at the same time. The procedure paralleled
the anti-smoking effort depicted in "Eagle Rock, Iowa by the
film, CoTd Turkey,.which was released January 30, 7971, by
United Artists.i Cold Turkey was photographed on location in
Grtenfield and the neighboring communitits of uinterset and
Orient, and the Greenfield anti-smoking effort was suggested,
by the film makers as a publicity stunt to call attention to
the picture as it was being made.
A detailed description of the fun'and nonsense accompany-
ing the anti-smoking campaign and the making of the film has
betn presented elsewhere.2 For present purposes it is enough
to recall that this became a major anti-smoking effort among
a group of mid-Americans noted for their integrity and sincer-
ity; that it was accompanied by miscellaneous strong social
pressures which rewarded abstinence from and discouraged -
return to the act of smoking; and that it was accompanied by
a.spotlight of regional and national publicity unprecedented -
in the lives of the people involved. There have been other
community-wide anti-smoking campaigns, but this one was unicue
because of the parallels with the motion picture, the presence .
of the actors and camera crews, the employment of many citiza1s
-~
100034561
!EAptcted to open in ftew York sometime in March or Apri 1, 1971
2See AppendiA 1
2 -
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as extras in scene after scene, etc. For over a month the
lives of the people of Greenfield became almost inextricably
Interwoven with the lives of their fictional counterparts in
."Eagle Rock. As film star Dick Van Dyke was to comment later
on national television, It was crizy .... you couldn't
tall where the film left off and the town began."3
.
In assessing the effects of the anti-smoking campaign,
there are four important time periods and dates to keeo in mind.
The first is May, 1969. Three months prior to the anti-
smoking campaign, May serves as a baseline reference period
for evaluating smoking behavior. The second is the period
between May and August, 1969. During these two months the
town was selected as the site of the film, the advance men ~
arrived in town to contact property owners and advertise for
extras, and the City Council discussed the desirab.flity of a
community effort to quit smoking. This period ends on tht day
before 'Cold Turkey Oay," August 8, 1969, when the formal
anti-smoking campaign began. For convenience we will call
this period "June and July." The major time period is that
of the 30-day-long anti-smoking drive, "during the Cold Turkey
Campaign." It began on Cold Turkey Day (CTO), August 8, and
ended on September 6, 1969, when formal ceremonies were held
-- '
in which 10 (for "I quit") buttons were handed out. Some
peoole who tried to quit smoking on Cold Turkey Day resumed -
within a day or two, others lastrd a week, still others thrte
weeks. For convenience we will call all those who tried to
quit but resumed smoking within three weeks "unsuccessf4l
quitters," and all those who lasted the month "successful '*A N
'
quitters." C (-n
~
.:. ~
3v=.rsQhraSe~1 from h~~~aomments on the Bi11 Cosby Soe:ial, CZ ~
:~2C-i'J, tlovemoer, C ~_
. 3
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CONF7CEN77aL
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The fourth and'final period covers the six and a half
months between the end of the Cold Turkey Campaign and late
htarch/early Apri1, 1970, xhen the data for the present study
were gathered. It*may be'conveniently thought of as extend-
ing from Labor Oay, 1969, to Easter, 1970, inasmuch as our
data were gathered during Easter week. To be more technically
correct, our questionnaires were distributed in Greenfield on
March 25, 26, 27, 'and 28, 1970, and we~ received no return
postmarked later than Apri1 30, 1970. -
The critical time periods then are (1) May, (2), June and
July, (3) the Cold Turkey Campaign, and (4) Labor Day to Easter.
Puroose of This Study
0
11000348673
'For examoie, the filmed agonies of quit:ers in :agle Rock may
have suggested symptoms to quitters in Greenfield.
but there was no other alternative.
We visited and interviewed the townspeople during March,
1970, six months following the end of the anti-smoking campaign,
to see (1) what effect the campaign had on their long run smokg ing behavior, (2) whether the
smokers who quit developed any
substitutes for the cigarettes they abandoned, (3) whether the
immediate effects of quitting produced short or long term
problems such as aggressiveness, overweight, increased alcoholic
intake, etc., and (4) whether we could discriminate betaeen
nonsmokers, nonquitters, would-be quitters, and quitters on tne
basis of other variables related to smoking history, den+ogra:hy,
or personality. The first three of these questions art answersc
in this report. The answers were obtained in the most direc-
fashion: we went to Greenfield, gave everyone in town questi;,n-
naires, asked that they mail us the answers, and then analyzs:
the results. Such an approach is open to criticism, on the
grounds that it is retrospective and open to many types of errtir
. 4 .
2501 200345
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P R 0 C E D U R E
Distribution and Return Rate
.
The questionnaire packets were distributed door-to-door
within the GreenfieId city limits by local teenagers, most of
whom were Girl Scouts s Each packet consisted of- a cover letter,
a basic questionnafre (see Appendix 5),,a personality test (see
Appendix 6), and a postage paid pre-addressed envelope. The
girls, who were seldom turned away from a door as strangers
might have beert, gave out 1592 packets. Their instructiorts
were to leave a packet for every person who was 14 years old
or older on Cold Turkey Day. We estimate that there are 600
children fn Greenfieid beneath the age of 14, and the prelimi-
nary 1970 census report shows Greenfield's population to be '
2212, so that it appears we did contact almost all the eligibles
(2212 - 600 1612).
A few people were not given packets because our local
representative knew them to be too aged or too infirm to fill
them out. A few people were missed because they were wintering
in warmer climates, and a few others were missed because they
wera (temporarily) hospitalized or out of town for various
reasons. Newspaper ads encouraged any who were missed to call--*
the local representative or write to POL for packets.
1335 The return rate was 90.1%, or 1435 questi onnaires , of wn i c-1
proved usable. The 50 non-usable returns can be chara:ar-
; izad very briefly: they were mostly from (a) older peoole
(b) who didn't smoke and (c) who didn't fill out their rsturns
properly. Their unfamiliarity with tests and questionnaires --
.~000345650
='~rs: Dorothy ArmsLrong, who had made an earlier cai neac
count, Supervised questionnaire distribution in Greenfield.
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2501200346
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CpNFIOE~
they belong to another era comoared with today's students caused them to make so many errors of
omission and commission
that we arbitrarily tossed their replies away. Their biggest
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problem was in fiiTing out the personality test.
Two questionnaires (from a husband and wife) were voided
arbitrarily when it was noticed that they had answered almost
every question identicatly - includingthe 184 personality
test items - and that both questionnaires appeared to be In
the same handwriting although mailed several days apart. Both
were smokers.
The 1385 usable questionnaires represented 86.9: of those
distributed. Not all the 1385 were comptete, but none were .
seriously tncomplete.
branch of a question chain.
Q,uestionnaires and Form Letters_
The length, contents, and difficulty of a questionnaire
will obviously affect the return rate and accuracy of resoonse.
When questionnaires are very long or complex they are usually
administered by a quasi-professional poil-taker at a personal
interview. Such interviews may be brief, but are more fre-
quently an hour or two long. Excellent examples of such -
questionnaires are given in Use of Tobacco, the HEW 1969 reoor:
of tobacco usage collected in 1964 and 1966 by National
Analysts and by Opinion Research Corporation. These cor+olex
questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers.
Each interiiew lasted from 60 to 90 minutes depending on ho+ ^
many questions were relevant. The HEW questionnaires contained C
..
over 260 questions, many of which were in multiple parts. ~
Oepending on the respondents' answers, the interviewers skipaeo ~
from place to place in the booklet, tracking down this or tha: ^
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