840000 Corporate Affairs World Conference Rye Brook, New York 840912 Plenary Session

Anne Landman's Collection

840000 Corporate Affairs World Conference Rye Brook, New York 840912 Plenary Session

Date: 12 Sep 1984 (est.)
Length: 55 pages
2025421658-2025421712
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Abstract

This document is a transcript of a Philip Morris (PM) Corporate Affairs World Conference from 1984. It contains key speeches by people who were formatively involved in PM corporate affairs. It describes PM's attitudes and tactics for fighting public health. For example, it describes how PM pressed its food and beer subsidiaries into service to provide a "grassroots" response against legislative proposals to regulate tobacco. It also contains other telling comments, like: "We're now facing a global anti-smoking campaign...Here and abroad, passive smoking is a particularly dangerous issue because it supports restrictions on smoking where smokers spend nearly half of their waking hours--in the workplace. " [2025421661]

and

"We're increasingly sophisticated at reaching minority constituencies. Our pace-setting support for the [blank..presumed "minorities"] softens our controversial edges with influential friends." [2025421664]

The document also shows PM's battle-mentality against the will of U.S. citizens. Citing the company's first loss on a ballot initiative in the U.S. (in San Francisco,1983) a speaker says,

"Well we've learned from that. We've sharpened our weapons and the next time around, we did, in fact, preclude similar legislation in other cities in this nation and we'll do even better in the future...That's what we've got to do, over and over, year in and year out in city after city, state after state, country-- sharpen our tools, do battle..."

Perhaps most telling is the bizarre attitude expressed by Harvey Sapolsky, a professor of Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a featured speaker at the conference. Sapolsky complains that society discriminates against smokers because people are no longer allowed to smoke while taking the bar exam, while waiting in hospital emergency rooms, or while serving on a jury. Sapolsky laments,

"A friend of mine a few years back [took] the Federal Bar Exam. And I assume it's a tense experience. I haven't taken it, but I presume that smokers who have taken that wouldn't mind lighting up every once in a while. But she wasn't permitted to do that. She was marched out every hour for a cigarette break out in the hall by a marshal and had to stand there and waste her time on her exam while the non-smokers were allowed to continue. I think that's unfair--discriminatory.

I've also seen clips in the newspapers that there are now jury rooms, I think the state is Oregon, where there's no smoking around. Perhaps it's more widespread than that. That's terrible. It's unfair to the people on trial as well as the people who are on the juries. And that's discrimination...

I accompanied someone to an emergency room and I was in the waiting room. And they don't allow smoking in the waiting room. That's discriminatory. People are waiting there for their loved ones, maybe a terrible accident and they're not allowed to show any signs of being human and smoking at that time. They're supposed to go out in the rain or something like that, [and] that's unfair. And something ought to be done about that..."

In his speech, Leonard Zahn (a public relations consultant to the industry) says the conclusion that nicotine is addictive is "the second-most serious problem...facing the industry today," and claims that the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) "are doing that to cover up for their failure to deal with their assignment--drug abuse."

This document reveals the antipathy and disrespect that the Philip Morris tobacco company held for public health authorities, describes the tactics PM used to fight these authorities, and gives us a look into the belief systems of key people who influenced the tobacco industry to engage in such a furious, behind-the-scenes battle against public health.

Fields

Quotes

[Page 7]:

In San Francisco recently, we lost our first ballot initiative. Well we've learned from that. We've sharpened out weapons and the next time around, we did in fact preclude similar legislation in other cities in this nation and we'll do it even better in the future...That's what we've got to do over and over, year in and year out, city after city, state after state, country--sharpen our tools, do battle, and hopefully win more victories.

The answers to these people that we just saw come I guess from a very simple group of people who say, "Has anybody got a cigarette?" or "I'm dying for a beer..."

Those are the people who are really out there on our side. We get all these attacks and yet the simple truth is that we have millions of people who want to use our products.

Page 38

People believe their health is at risk. And I think that's particularly strong in the cigarette case. I think the cigarette issue has gotten to the point where there's really nothing that can be done about the health issue. You can't be belileved and I don't think even smokers will join you on that subject.

All the nonsmokers I know now have an allergy to smoking. And that was 20 years ago, no one had an allergy for smoking as far as I know. Now they all have an allergy. And I think that's just a polite way to say they're scared to death of smoke in the atmosphere.

And all the smokers I know, perhaps this room being an exception, feel terribly guilty about their practice. As a result, there's a great acceptance for the segregation of smokers. As we know, there's no-smoking offices and non-smoking meetings except for this one, and smoke-free rental cars, and smoke-free motel rooms and smoke-free moving bans. And worse, there's discrimination now about smokers. My secretary as we were leaving for this conference, she was looking for an apartment--she's a smoker--she was looking for an apartment and she wasn't looking for a rommate, she was looking for an apartment. And she discofers that many of the apartments are now being advertised as smoke-free, even though she's going to occupy it by herself. And that's discrimination.

And there's also job discrimination that's coming. All the advertisements for secretaries at my institution now contain, often contain the phrase this is a non-smoknig office, and they won't hire smokers.

Well I don't think you can deal with the public's fear of the health fears, but I think you ought to be able to shift the guilt. And for discrimination, people ought to be told they're practicing discrimination. I have some what I think are outlandish examples of discrimination where they really aren't being challenged.

A friend of mine a few years back [took] the Federal Bar Exam. And I assume it's a tense experience. I haven't taken it, but I presume that smokers who have taken that wouldn't mind lighting up every once in a while. but she wasn't permitted to do that. She was marched out every hour for a cigarette break out in the hall by a marshall and had to stand there and waster her time on her exam while the non-smokers were allowed to continue. I think that's unfair--discriminatory.

I've also seen clips in the newspapers that there are now jury rooms, I think the state is Oregon, where there's no smoking around. Perhaps it's more wide-spread than that. That's terrible. It's unfair to the people on trial as well as the people who are on the juries. And that's discrimination (laughter).

And then ther also, something ought to be done to buck up the feelings of smokers if they're so oppressed. If smokers are going to be in the back of the airplane, that ought to be the place where there's free movies or free drinks or somethings to reward them for their experience as opposed to penalizing them...Moreover, if there's going to be separate facilities, there ought to be at least equal facilities...

Company

Philip Morris

Author

Clephas, Vincent R. (PM Public Affairs Dir. (1981), Communications Dir. ('79))

Director of Public Affairs at PM c. 1981; Director of Communications at PM, 1979

Maxwell, Hamish (PM President c.1984)

Took over at time of Cippolone. Cleaned house. Carried company into a strong defensive position.

Pittman, D.

Sapolsky, Harvey Morton, Ph.D. (Political Scientist, MIT, PM consultant, Industry Expert)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Political Science Department

Scott, S. Stanley (VP & Director, PM Corporate Affairs in 1985)

S.S. Scott served as a Vice President and Director of Corporate Affairs for Philip Morris, Inc. in 1985. (Source: Philip Morris Summary - PMI Liability Notebook)

Zahn, Leonard S. (CTR Public Relations consultant)

Leonard Zahn & Associates, Public Relations consultant to the tobacco industry

Recipient

Attendees of Philip Morris 1984 Corporate Affairs World Conference, Rye Brook NY

Region

Global

Named Organization

1984 Corporate Affairs World Conference

3rd World Corporate Affairs Conference

4th World Conference on Smoking + Health

5th World Conference on Smoking + Health

7 Up

Alcohol + Drug Abuse Comm

American Assn for Cancer Research

American Cancer Society

American Heart Assn

American Lung Assn

Center for Science in the Public Interes

Civil Aeronautics Board (Ruled on smoking in U.S. airplanes)

Conference on Business Opportunities

*Council for Tobacco Research-- U.S.A. Inc. CTR (Formerly Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC))

Created and funded by the tobacco industry to award grants to study of the link between smoking and disease. Part of a four decade effort to cast doubt on the links between smoking and disease.

Distilled Spirits Inst

Fortune Magazine

Miller Brewing

Mission Viejo

Mit

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Natl Conference of State Legislatures

Natl Heart Lung + Blood Inst

Natl Inst on Alcohol Abuse + Alcoholism

Natl Inst on Drug Abuse

NCI, Natl Cancer Inst

Ny Post

TI, Tobacco Inst

Tobacco Advisory Council

US Brewers Assn

US Congress

US Senate

Washington Univ St Louis

World Health Organization (Concerned with global public health)

International organization concered with public health worldwide

World Health Assn Subcomm on Internation

Litigation

Stmn/Produced

Named Person

Aristotle

Boley, J.

Clephas, Vincent R. (PM Public Affairs Dir. (1981), Communications Dir. ('79))

Director of Public Affairs at PM c. 1981; Director of Communications at PM, 1979

Colman, H.

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.

Donohue

Galbraith, J.K.

Hathaway, W.

Hawkins, P.

Jacobsen

Koop, C. Everett, M.D. (Surgeon General ('81-'89))

former US Surgeon General (1981-1989)

Maxwell, Hamish (PM President c.1984)

Took over at time of Cippolone. Cleaned house. Carried company into a strong defensive position.

Mccormus, P.

Murphy, J.

Pittman, D.

Ruder, William (Ruder & Finn, PR firm used by tobacco industry)

Served on TI Communications Committee

Sapolsky, Harvey Morton, Ph.D. (Political Scientist, MIT, PM consultant, Industry Expert)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Political Science Department

Scott, S. Stanley (VP & Director, PM Corporate Affairs in 1985)

S.S. Scott served as a Vice President and Director of Corporate Affairs for Philip Morris, Inc. in 1985. (Source: Philip Morris Summary - PMI Liability Notebook)

Surgeon General

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.

Zahn, Leonard S. (CTR Public Relations consultant)

Leonard Zahn & Associates, Public Relations consultant to the tobacco industry

Type

TRAN, TRANSCRIPT

LIST, LIST

Subject

Document Images

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A-1. 1 2 1984 CQILPtBATE A"AI>ft8 WOQi.D CtHrBR=CR 8YE BStCK,. I= Y QRC . S9PV"U 12, 1984 YLBmw SBsSIOl1 3 4 bTAD18Y SC t7lT 2 - 12 5 !II ~ ~ IMgli alA7tWgt,i, 00 12 - 26 6 c? CD t" 7 VINCBNT R. CLRPbAS 27 - 29 I ~ LBMBD 2A8'N 29 - 36 8 Q HARVI9Y SAPCLSSK 36 - 42 9 Q ~ DAVID PITt'MAAi 42 - 51 10 ~ w z. 11 Q QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 51 - 55 12 v~i w z 13 ~ 14 I Q 15 ~ ~D ~ 16 C~ z_ 17 R O U W 18 ~ z . 19 Q, ~' 20 z. ac. ~ . E- 21 ~ , 22 23 24 25

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A -2 1 2 3 4 a) 6 ~ 7 MJL. STANLEY S. SCtn"!: Good morning. We shoaed those commsrcials because they weneresponses to challenges. They were opportunities seieed. As you know, challenge and opportunity are what we're trying to sort out this week. Aeturning challenges into opportunities Philip Morris w uund up 35th an the F urtune 500 list in revenues -- 15th. Among the 500 in that earings. Corporate affairs played a mQ j or role in Philip MJrris t achievement of that rec ord. Jim B oley is a hard act to f ollow. But let's look again at some of the iaa- mages we just saw. We're learning to live with that and naybe we'xe uecming a bit complacent. That could hap- pen in a year or two if you ask anti-alcohol extremists are not blocked at achieving the goals they announced this spring. ~ ~ Even that isnet out of the question, be- 22 23 24 25 cause iegislaturs thirsty for revenues have started slap- ping taxes un suft drinks. I don't have to tall you there is an intensifying squeeze on c onsuers freedom to purchase our products. The fact is in 1984 our industries have all been hit wc-xld-wide with more chAl$nges and more opposi- tion in ,rwre places, at more levels of government, than

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A-3 I 2 3 ever before. In ttis country in 1984 for the first time, Congress has been considering multiple bills that could severely damage our cigarette business 4 through taxation, stiffer warning labels, and self- 5 extinguishing cigarettes. CO q) 6 ? Just this year four states have already ~ ~ 7 ~ passed cigarette excise tax increases. And five states ~ 8 o are considering bills restricting smoking in the aork- ~.4 9 o place, ~ 10 W The drone beat of municipl regulations z 11 z and referendums is louder than ever. Right now 22 pend- d 12 ? ing bills call for workplsce restrictions. z 13 ~ bince January, seven others have passed. H ~ 14! 'Eiaht lucaliti©s have considering sampling ba;;s including 15 ~ major cities like Boston, Philadelphia, New York and ~ 16 z' Chicago. 17 o' Jur U,6, cigarette adversaries 9me11 18 ~' blood,, and are nuw unified around their new rallying cry d' 19 o of a smuke-free society by tha year 20f9U. ' P '. KC 20 Z In the 13te 197C?'s tha anti-smoka crusader- w ~ 21 z' ilas centered primarily in North America. In Norway, 22 23 24 25 Sweden, the U.K., Germany, and Australia. But a turn- around came in 1979 at the 4th WoridCanference on Smoking and Health in Stockholm. This milestone conference stren- gthened aworlci-wide network of anti-smoking professionals

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A-4 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 who a=e-in a position to dictate policy, And dictate they -U3. Within a year, for sample, virtually every- Kiddla-Eastern country required warning Icbels on cigarette packs. Within three years, those same ~ countrias in the Middle East restricted or bannad tr3- ~ 'No ditional forms of cigarette advertising. I IT 8 o The fifth World Conference took place 9 uor. in Winepe ; last sumeaer and that conference eccellerated O 10 ~ the chain reaction. w 11 12 ~ campaign. ... We re now facing a global anti-amoking z Just as passive smoking got a hiblier pri- 13 1- 14 ~ cnority, tisan it h-ad before in the last 5urgeon Genpra1's I 15 ~' rupcrt, passive smoking has gotten an increasingly high c~ d d. A J 16 0 apan ar. ,ustYa~.ia. priority in uther caIntries, inclu ing z 17 P Here and abroad passive smoking is a parti- O 18 ~ cula-r1y dangercus issue because it suppbrts restrictions ~ 19 0 on soF.:d:ir.g where spoke-,s spend nearly half of their wak- ' ing h1au: s ir. the workpiacQ. 20 z, 21 z Perhaps a chief weapon against consumars 22 23 24 25 all our pr.oducts is the excise tax. People used to think of excise taxes as mostly revenue-raisers. Nuw the antis are usirg excise tax as weapons to curb the use of our products to try and put us out of business.

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A-S 1 2 3 4 7 22 23 24 25 8ere in the US thereEs talk of heighten- irtjj the federal exxcise tax to 32 cents per pack. At the name time, state taxes are spiraling upward. As if it weren't enough, we face pr oposals for targetted taxes on cigarettes, besr and soft drinks to pay for l+jeedicade and alcohol abuse treatsent. Beer is beginning to be the target f or so®® other familiar attacks like the demands for health warnings and ingredient labela, The iegitimate concern with alcohol abuse ::s turning to a tax on alcohol use. We see more and more proposals to restrict beer advertising, hours of sale and campus.marketing. Environmentalists are putting pressure on Philip Morris Industrial and which is sune- thing our people in soft drinks and beer can underatand too, Our soft drink and beer people of course, the principal environmental issue is a forced deposit beverage laws or b ottle bills. In the cigare4te ware are seasoned domestic federal troops in the United Statea have had to learn todo battle in the state trenches. Now in beer, our state forces are having W learn the federal terrain. ~ ~ Today, wetre also facing strains in our U,S, tobacco coalition of farm+irs andasnufacturers. I Oq

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R-6 1 2 3 4 part, because the imported leaf issue threatens the farmers. Clearly, we ive got a lot of cultivating to 35. Our tobacco family has topu12 together. We 've 5 1gat to organiae our most obvious constituency. Those 00 Go ~ 6 ~ people who enjoy our products. N 7 I Not unl,y lthat, but we ive got to change ~ 8 o the climate of opinion that opposes our products and the x 4 O ge uplcs that ch oose to enjoy them. 10 z Peuple may ask why our industry {s aL=t~ays 11 9 uvder attack. The answer is sisiple. Weere easy to pick 12 vi z 13 ~ ever since folks lar.ded at Jaeneatowr~ in the ~Ie~,, ?.T~~irlci U) 14 fvhere ttibacou was actualty used as cash currency. 15 2 ~ What were the issues then? AcRaz-S n;. Tax- 16 z_ ation, prciduction and health. 17 P & , Our adversaries would have our consumers w 18 ~ beiieve that the case is clused, that the juries verdict 19 z O' Lq in. Well, we knuw that's ni".kt true. Anj i:u;. job i.s H ~ 20 z - =w ` w = a keep thuse cases open anci scuzes more at*~ t~o win 3 21 z victories and we think we can. 22 Our outreach tv the inveetcuent c.m:unity 23 is respected here and abroad. The views --)f our executives 24 cx=nrnl a hearing. Our good re Iati ons with the plant cum- 25 II munities get results. And the fact is, yL,4z s.ru the very - on because wee re highly visible. And weive been that way

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A-7 1 2 3 4 5 00 CO best at what you do. Wei*re expanding our contacts with Ieb ing internationaletatesmen and with leaders in Washingt the states and the cities. Abroad we've had some success recently, in holding the difficult line on excise taxes in places I like Argentina, canada and France. In England we f ound ~ 8(2 out how to make headway with the tobacoo Advisory Council*s tough tell the taxman campaign. We're increasingly sophisticated at reaching minority constituencies. Our pace setting sup- port for the softens our controversial edges z w 13 ~ with influentiaZ friends. ~ 14 ~ What we've got to learn to do better is Q 15 ~ ~D 0 16 0z_ 17 ~ O U w 18 Cz ~ z 19 p F K~ 20 z w 21 z 22 23 24 25 ask those friends' for support when we need them. And weire also learning from some of our negative expariences, In San Francisco recently, we lost our first ballot initiative. Well we've learned from that. We i ve sharpened our weapons and th9nelt time around, we did in fact, preclude similar Iegisiation in other cities in this nation and we'll do even better in the future because w;aire counting on aLI of yw, That# s what we've got to do over and over, year in and year out in city after city, state after state, country -- sharpen our tooLs, do battle,

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A-8 1 2 3 4 7 22 23 24 25 and hopefully win wre victcrries, I have a few 3;deas about how we can win. And ftse of you who know me know that I'll welcome your ideas because on any given day,we need as many ideas as we can muster, First, I think that we rve got to further strengthen our partnerships between our operating.cam- paniea, and between them and corporate. In July for example in the United States, Miller Brewing Company, CO N Philip Morris, U.S.A* and corporate kept a committee of the National C onference of State Legislatures meeting in Boston from endoxed,ng a prohib'ition on beer and wines ad- vertised on television. That pr oposal cuuld have been a f oot in the d'oor to banning of all of televised beer advertising on television. This summer we got similarly outstanding collaboration from our operating companies including in- ternational at both of the national political conventions, The plain fact is if we don't communicate well internally, weire going to do a lousy ,job externally, Communicatiuns tatcea memos, it takes phoneca4.18, it takes time, we've got to stay in close tough, The partnerships and good communications should help us with the third task I see ahead. And thb t's expanding our constituency base. That's a buzz w ord and'

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# -9 wv're facing a buzz saw. Add third-party defenses as Bill Ruder 3 csiis them are poserful. All the old techniques wiil 4 have to go into overdry. Especially searching out 5 1groups with whom we can make commun cause and common n ~ 6 ~ causes around whichwe can meke groups. We ~re in fact N 7 I taiking about coalitton buildng. Our years of build- v$5-~. ing expertise in computers are over in the United x. 9 O States. 10 z yor example, n+xa we can track our history 11 fziof relationships with leaders and with future leaders 12 ~ who graduate from staff jobs to state legislatures, to 13 ~ 14 ~ governor ships to the C ongress and to the White House. CO ~ We can push computer buttons and tell who's with us and 15 ~ wh+~ls opposed to our efforts. The information is there. 16 z We have t o d o an even better j ob of using it. Q 17 O ~ Another fact of life is that fewer and w 18 ~ y fewer legislators come from the tobacco business. I 19 0 , have large numbers of tobacco people among their consti- 20 20 Z tuenciee. They are just as Pikely to be teachers, lawyers, F- 21 z or real estate agents. So as these legislative bodies 22 change, we rve got to keep adapting our tactics. 23 11 Our U.S, plant employees are a great re- 24 25 $ ource. They gst involved in issues affecting us. And these employees plus the sales forces in our plant communities

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A AU 1 2 3 4 5 were there when the Civil Aeronautics Board proposad to ban smoking on f iights of two hours duration. We got :5f?,000 petition signatures in four days. As a matter of fact, our company effort generated 45 per- ~ cent of 1he industry ' e support. CO 6 ~' Our uni uns in Phi Ii p Morri s, U. SA4 have ~ IN ~ I give us the green light of their memberi to join TAP, ~ 8 0 our Tobaaoo Action Program. By the and of this year, 9 o TAP could more than double from 6,000 members to 15,000. 10 z Tbis means 9,000 more employees available to help support 11 ~ our enlightened self-interest. 12 c'~n z 13 ~ big direct-buy customers across the U.5. Jn issues of ~ 14 ~ common concern from restrictions on sampling to tax in- 15 ~ ~ creaaes. 16 z I say to you support for our industries is 17 ~ 0 out there if we go out there and get it. We can find w 18 ~ friends. We can make common cause with third partiAs. 19 Z p We can build pawerful. coalitions. But we have to approach 20 z ~ the task with vision and creativity and 9taying pa~rer. F 21 z ~ We soon will be collaborating with our I d F f' ourth we ve got to use every orm an , 22 every presentation we can find to keep hammering our key 23 I themes. We 've got to raise the public 's awareness of how 24, discriminatory and regressive excise taxxes are. We 25 111 need to keep emphasizing that our interest importance is

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