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"The base of our business is the high school student"

Abstract

This is the famous Lorillard memo which states flatly, ..."the base of our business is the high school student." It was written by a member of Lorillard's sales force refers to the "in status" of the Newport brand among young people. The recipient of the memo was Curtis Judge, the President of Lorillard. Despite this acknowledgment from his own field sales force that children formed the basis of their company's cigarette business, just a few months later, in May of 1979, Mr. Judge wrote a letter to Joseph Califano (Secretary of Health Education and Welfare) in response to accusations that the industry's advertising appealed to children. In the letter, Mr. Judge denies any attempts by his company to appeal to children. Judge said, "For many years Lorillard has avoided directing the appeal of its advertising to young persons....Everyone, including Lorillard, agrees that children should not smoke...We neither direct the appeal of our advertising to children, nor do we encourage them to start to smoke. In sum, Mr. Secretary, we do not advertise to children and do not intent to do so in the future." [Letter from Curtis Judge to Joseph A. Califano Jr. 19790517 http://my.tobaccodocuments.org/tdo/view.cfm'CitID=992194&GetListArrayIdx=4&ShowImages=yes] Title: Product Information Type of Document:Memo Author: Atchey, TL Recipient: Judge, CL Date: 19780830 Site: Lorillard Tobacco Company document site http://www.lorillarddocs.com/ Page Count: 2 Bates No. 03537131/7132 URL: http://my.tobaccodocuments.org/tdo/View.cfm'CitID=356114 Litigation Usage: Broin trial exhibit, Minnesota, Texas, Missouri selected document and trial exhibit, Thanks to: Michael Tacelosky of Smokescreen in Washington, D.C. for bringing this document to the attention of Doc-Alert.

Fields

Quotes

The success of NEWPORT has been fantastic during the past few years. Our profile taken locally shows this brand being purchased by black people (all ages), young adults (usually college age), but the base of our business is the high school student... NEWPORT in the 1970's is turning into the Marlboro of the 60's and 70's. It is the "In" brand to smoke if you want to be one of the group... Our problem is the younger consumer that does not desire a menthol cigarette. If that person desires a non-menthol, but wants to be part of the "in group," he goes to Marlboro.