Minutes of the 19th Meeting of the Public Relations Sub-Committee of T.A.C. Held at Glen House, Stag Place, London, Sw1e 5ag, on Monday 800321

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Minutes of the 19th Meeting of the Public Relations Sub-Committee of T.A.C. Held at Glen House, Stag Place, London, Sw1e 5ag, on Monday 800321

Date: 21 Mar 1980 (est.)
Length: 5 pages
2025016017-2025016021
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Abstract

These minutes of a 1980 Public Relations Sub-Committee meeting of the Tobacco Advisory Council (TAC) in the United Kingdom discuss the industry's involvement in determining the direction of the smokers' rights group FOREST ("Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking). A passage indicates that the group only exists due to industry funding and to continue it will need to show "propaganda results":

"[Mr. Stuart Alexander, Director of Public Affairs at TAC] thought that the industry needed a comprehensive plan and clear ideas of what it expected of FOREST before any proposals could be made for changes in its directions. In particular industry needed to decide whether it was more desirable for it to be a high membership group or ao hard-hitting propaganda group. Mr. Moore thought that if FOREST was to survive it would do so only by means of industry financial support and that this would only be forthcoming if it was able to produce the propaganda results." (Page 2025016020).

The document also discusses "ensuring that no debate takes place" in the British Parliament about a bill to prohibit smoking in theatres and cinemas in the UK. (Page 2025016019)

Fields

Notes

Thanks to an anonymous tipster for bringing to attention a string of documents describing the British tobacco industry's relationship to FOREST.

Quotes

Forest

Mr. Alexander recalled that the T.A.C. Council had come to no conclusion on this topic. He thought that the industry needed a comprehensive plan and clear ideas of what it expected of Forest before any proposals could be made for changes in its direction. In particular the industry needed to decide whether it was more desirable for it to be a high membership group or a hard-hitting propaganda group. Mr. Moore thought that if Forest was to survive it would only do so by means of industry financial support and that this would only be forthcoming if it was able to produce the propaganda results. He therefore proposed that Forest should be asked to make a presentation of its aims and objectives for the next twelve months. Other members agreed that Forest had achieved little in the period since its formation to counter the erosion of freedom and they reported that feed-back indicated that the present personalities involved were unlikely to be reluctant to change the manner in which the organisation was run. Alexander proposed that the P.R. working group, should consider all the various aspects of Forest and the possible objectives it might set for itself in conjunction with the formulation of T.A.C.'s policy objectives. This was agreed...

Company

Philip Morris

Author

Public Relations Sub-Committee of the Tobacco Advisory Council (TAC)

Region

United Kingdom

Named Organization

BBC

British Rail

DHSS

Forest

Imperial

Nationwide

Panorama

PR Working Group

Public Relations Subcommittee

RCP

RCTA

TAC

TAC Council

Working Group

Named Person

Alexander, Stuart I. (Tobacco Advisory Council UK Dir., Public Affairs, c .1981)

Evans, Geoffrey (Administrator in charge of accounts for smokers' rights grou)

In charge of accounts, subscriptions and office management.

Foxley-Norris, Sir Christopher (First director of UK SRG Forest)

Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris was the first chairman of the UK smokers rights group FOREST.

Knowles, Colin G. ("CG") (Public Affairs Mgr., Imperial Tobacco (UK) 1978)

Leach, Michael J. (BAT (UK & Export) Ltd)

Public Affairs Manager, BAT (UK & Export) Ltd, UK (United Kingdom)Attended the INFOTAB/NMA Workshop, Brussels, 13-16, 1986.

Moore, G.W.

Mulholland, Martin E.H. (Gen. Mgr. Public Affairs, Gallaher Ltd. (England) c '80)

Served on original governing board of ICOSI, the International Committee on Smoking Isssues, formed by the seven major world tobacco companies in the late 1970s to fight governments on smoking and health issues.

Parker, P.

Redway, DHA (Press/Info officer, Imperial Tobacco Ltd., UK 1981)

Sanguinetti, Peter J. (Political Affairs Executive, Imperial Tobacco, London)

Sever, J.

Tripple

#31498 (Adams, I.D.)

Roach, B.D.

Scott, M.J.

St. Aubyn, A.W.M. "Tony" (Assistant Director, PR Subcommittee, TAC)

Steele, PM (Director, Philip Morris Ltd., London UK c. 1977-81)

Type

REPT, REPORT, OTHER

MINU, MINUTES

Litigation

Stmn/Produced

Subject

smokers' rights group

Document Images

Page 1: qfa56e00

TB 430 CONFIDENTIAL Minutes of the 19th Meeting of the Public Relations Sub-Committee of T.A.C. held at Glen House, Stag Place, London, SW1E 5AG, on Monday 21st March 1980 Present: Mr. S.I. Alexander In the Chair Mr. M.E.H. Mulholland Mr. P.M. Steele Mr. P.J. Sanguinetti Mr. D.H.A. Redway Mr. M.J. Scott Mr. B.D. Roach Mr. G.W. Moore In attendance: Mr. I.D. Adams Mr. A.W.M. St. Aubyn 1. Apologies Apologies for absence were received from Mr. C.G. Knowles and Mr. M.J. Leach. 2. ::inutes of the Previous Meeting The minutes, previously circulated as document TB 370, were approved and signed by the Chairman. 3. Matters arising from~the Minutes - Forest Mr. Sanguinetti reported that Forest had accepted an invitation for Mr. Evans to appear on BBC's "Nationwide"'coverage of the Budget on 26th March. He also said that Forest were claiming some degree of success with British, RaiL (Southern) over the matter of the allocation oY" smoking accommodation : a letter to Sir Peter Parker had alerted him to events of which he was unaware. I

Page 2: qfa56e00

4. Renegotiation of the Voluntary Agreements a) Progress to date Mr. Alexander re_oorted that the D.H.S.S. interim press release, the taxt of which~had been agreed with T.A.C. and circulated to member companies, had been put out on Thursday afternoon, 20th March~but had not been given, any coverage by the media. Other developments were now unlikely until after April 21st to give time for Ministers to confer among themselves on T.A.C.'s proposals, but in the meantime the Working Group would continue clarifying details of the industry's proposals preparatory to the next meeting with Ministers and officials. b) P.R. Activities Mr. Alexander advised that, in view of the lull until H.M,G.'s next response, T.A.C. had no need to initiate any P.R. activities in this area. The artificial deadline of March 31st had been successfully dealt wit'rh by the industry's undertaking to continue honouring! the existing agreement; the Panorama programme would~ now precede the announcement of a new agreement and the World Health day was not seen to be relevant to this context. Mr. MuihoLland! referred again~to the value, in P.R. terms, of a con- solidated booklet covering not only the terms of the new agreement but also incorporating all the existing and continuing agreements : it would also be valuable if the Minister would put his name to the preface of such a document. A booklet of this nature would serve to put across to non-smokers and'opinion formers the extent of what had been achieved in the past as well as in the recent negotiations. Members agreed with these views and T.A.C. under- took to begin the drafting cf this d'ocument. f 2

Page 3: qfa56e00

e The question of whether advertising space might be taken to publicise the new agreement was discussed but members felt this option should~ be kept open for the present. Mr. Alexander said that he had'been interested by the reports of t:-e press meeting of R.C.P. at which they had called for a ban on all alcohol adverti,sing. He was putting together a folder of reports and comments. Member companies thought that this might be a matter to be handled by the drinks industry or Forest rather than T.A.C. becoming directly involved. .7 Mr. Alexander reported on the R.C.T.A.'s recent meeting in Cardiff following which Mr. Tipple's speech had been~given useful coverage in the local media. 5. Mr. John Sever M.P. 10 minute rule Bill Members noted this Bill to prohibit smoking in theatres and cinemas and undertook to take the necessary stops to ensure that no debate took place. Mr. Alexander suggested that this event might be a suitable peg for a radio tape, by means of which T.A.C. could emphasise the extremism of the proposal to prohibit smoking,in these places. Members suggested that opposition to this Bill should be led by the Theatre and Cinemaa organisations and Mr. Alexander undertook to contact them to ensure that they were aware of the parliamentary procedures and to discuss the possibi;lity of a joint radio tape. J 3

Page 4: qfa56e00

6. Industry Sales Statistics Documents TB 335 and TB 393 were discussed. It was proposed that the supporting comments to the estimates should be amended to a) delete references to slight increases or declines, and b) to include a note to the effect that the figures were based on sales into the trade and allowances for imports and year end stock levels. It was proposed that the distribution of the estimates should be as per TB 335 except that all the press should be included under list 2. Mr. Redway undertook to clear these proposals with Imperial so that the figures could be made available as soon as possible. 7. Other business - Forest Mr. Alexander recalled that the T.A.C. Council had come to no conclusion on this topic. He thought that the industry needed a comprehensive plan and clear ideas of what it expected of Forest before any proposals could be made for changes in its direction. In aarticular the industry needed to decide whether it was more desirable for it to be a high membership group or a hard-hitting propaganda group. Mr. Moore thought that if Forest was to survive it would only do so by means of industry financial support and that this would only be forthcoming if it was able to produce the propaganda results. He therefore proposed that Forest should be asked to make a presentation of its aims and objectives for the next twelve months. Other members agreed that Forest had achieved little in the oeriod since its formation to counter the erosion of freedom and they reported that feed-back indicated that the present personalities involved were Ditely to be reluctant to change the manner in which the organisation was run.

Page 5: qfa56e00

mr. Alexander proposed that the P.R. working group should consider all the various aspects of Forest and the possible objectives it might set for itself in conjunction with the formulation of T.A.C.'s policy objectives. This was agreed and, in the meantime,, Imperial undertook to make an appr_acz to Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris. 8. Date of next meeting The date of the next meeting was left open pending further developments on the negotiation of the voluntary agreements. I ~

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