Abstract
This document is key in understanding why Philip Morris is secure in going from actively pursuing the youth market to declaring, extensively and through ubiquitous advertising campaigns, that the company doesn't want kids to smoke.
In 1991, Carolyn Levy (then of PM's Marketing Research department) contracted with a company called Rapaille Associates to study the emotional reasons why people smoke, presumably so the company could better leverage these emotions in advertising and promotions. Rapaille interviewed people about their first experiences with smoking. (Many of the people he interviewed reported that these experiences occurred when they were between 4 and 9 years old). Rapaille noted that typically the first experience with smoking involved seeing an admired adult do it, feeling that that they were excluded from the activity, and that they strongly wanted to be included. Rapaille ultimately linked smoking with adult initiation rituals, risk taking, bonding with peers and the need for kids to feel like they belong to a group and can partake in an "adult activity." The study states
"The first imprinting of smoking is that adults do it, and I'm excluded...A critical element at this stage is the fact that the individual is on the 'outside,' excluded..."
The report makes recommendations to PM's marketing department based on these findings:
"Recommendations based on the Archetype:
Stress that smoking is for adults only
Make it difficult for minors to obtain cigarettes
Continue having smoking perceived as a legitimate, albeit morally ambiguous adult activity. Smoking should occupy the middle ground between activities that everyone can partake in vs. activities that only the fringe of society embraces.
Stress that smoking is dangerous. Smoking is for people who like to take risks, who are not afraid of taboos, who take life as an adventure to prove themselves.
Emphasize the ritualistic elements of smoking, particularly fire and smoke.
Emphasize the individualism/conformity dichotomy Stress the popularity of a brand, that choosing it will reinforce your identity AND your integration into the group.
This explains why PM supports--and advertises widely that it supports-- restricting sales cigarette sales to minors and moving cigarettes out of reach of kids. Aside from the now well-known political advantages that PM's "youth smoking prevention" programs confer, this explains why PM feels comfortable in advertising its "kids shouldn't smoke" campaigns. The company knows that the more they can project a finger-wagging, forbidden-fruit, "adults-only"-type message about smoking, the more they will stimulate kids to smoke.
Carolyn Levy, the PM scientist who headed the Archetype Project (and who had experience studying both addiction and youth marketing), was appointed the first head of PM's youth smoking prevention department in 1993.
Fields
- Notes
This report was the basis for a presentation on the Archetype Project in which each slide/page bore the Philip Morris crest. You can see the final PM presenatation here: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oeh83c00
Here is Rapaille's contract agreement with Philip Morris (Carolyn Levy) to perform the Archetype studies:
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/rlx52c00
Other documents bearing the name of this project are marked "privileged" and can not be viewed.
- Quotes
An archetype if a "mental highway" (neuronal pathway) which has been imprinted at an early age and is used each time we perform an action. The imprinting experience imparts the significant meaning that an object or action will have for an individual.
The first imprinting of smoking is that adults do it, and I'm excluded. Usually these are significant adults, typically a parent or grandparent who is respected and is associated with warmth, strength and/or protection. Adults are seen smoking when they're socializing (especially in the kitchen), having fun, or relaxing. A critical element at this stage is the fact that the individual is on the "outside," excluded...
The second step is a type of initiation/rite of passage and may occur before or during adolescence. Typically two or more friends steal cigarettes from a parent and sneak away to a private place to smoke. More often than not they either get sick or punished (or both) as a result. Here we see a transition from "excluded" to "included." The newly formed group becomes bound together by their shared risk-taking...
Important elements at this stage include:
an adult activity
a product which is hard to get your hands on
a behavior which is morally ambiguous/an "adult secret"
engaging in the activity as part of a group/to belong to the group
going to a secret place in order to hide your behavior
--risk of getting caught/punished -
-getting "sick"
...As an adult, smoking reactivates this mental highway. Unconsciously it reactivates the strong emotion related to the initiation into adulthood. Does it do this each time we smoke? Yes, the same mental highways are used, but not all of the emotion is experienced...
[From page 5]:
Recommendation based on the Archetype:
--Stress that smoking is for adults only --Make it difficult for minors to obtain cigarettes --Continue having smoking perceived as a legitimate, albeit morally ambiguous adult activity. Smoking should occupy the middle ground between activities that everyone can partake in vs. activities that only the fringe of society embraces.
--Stress that smoking is dangerous. Smoking is for people who like to take risks, who are not afraid of taboos, who take live as an adventure to prove themselves. --Emphasize the ritualistic elements of smoking, particularly fire and smoke. --Emphasize the individualism/conformity dichotomy Stress the popularity of a brand, that choosing it will reinforce your identity AND your integration into the group.
--Because of the American culture, rest or reward should always be in anticipation of the next action, not a final reward. --American identity should be the core...growing, searching and striving.
- Company
- Philip Morris
- Author
- Presumed author, Rapaille Associates
- Recipient
- Presumed recipient, Philip Morris
- Region
- United States
- Type
- REPT, REPORT, OTHER
- BIBL, BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Litigation
- Feda/Produced
- Named Person
- Feinhandler, Sherwin J. Ph.D. (Behavioral/Social consultant to tobacco industry)
Assisted PM by describing the social benefits of smoking. Work was seminal in
- Kroc, R. -founder of McDonalds restaurant chain
- Maisonneuve
- Mausner
- Muller
- Nucci
- Platt
- Robb
- Robbins
- Sarbin
- Selye, H.
- Stepney
- Varenne
- Vontroschke
- Weir
- Wetterer
- Xxgreg
- Operation/Project
- Archetype Project
- Named Organization
- McDonalds
- Subject
- youth
- youth access
- youth initiation
- Youth Smoking Prevention Programs (Industry-sponsored youth smoking prevention programs)
Designed to stave off further legislated marketing restrictions
- youth risk behavior surveillance
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EXECUTIVE SUL4MARY
•
Beginning in the Fall of 1990, a project was undertaken to
determine the American archetype of smoking. An archetype is a
"mental highway" (neuronal pathway) which has been imprinted at
an early age. The imprinting experience imparts the significant
meaning that an object or action will have for an individual.
The American archetype of smoking is as follows:
Smoking is a social ritual which enables us to
express and reaffirm our self image. When we
smoke, we reactivate the initiation into adulthood
which acknowledged cur individualism and bound us
to our peer group.
Recommendations based on the archetype follow from several
key themes: smoking is an adult activity that is dangerousr
smoking has ritualistic components; American culture values
both individuality and conformity as well as growth and change.
o Stress that smoking is for adults only
o Make it difficult for minors to obtain cigarettes
o. Continue to have smoking perceived as a legitimate,
albeit morally ambiguous, adult activity. Smoking
should occupy the middle ground between activities that
everyone can partake in vs. activities that only the
fringe of society embraces.
o Stress that smoking is dangerous
- Smoking is for people who like to take risks, who
are not afraid of taboos, who take life as an
adventure to prove themselves
o Emphasize the ritualistic elements of smoking,
particularly fire and smoke
o Emphasize the individualism/con£ormity dichotomy
- Stress the popularity of a brand, that choosing it
will reinforce your identity and your integration
into the group.
o Because of the American culture, rest or reward should
always be in anticipation of the next action, not a
final reward
o American identity should be the core. .. growing,
searching, striving
!
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PREFACE
•
.
During the numerous lengthy discussions of smoking and its role
in American culture, various functions of smoking were
elucidated. Unbeknownst to us at the time, many of these same
functions had been highlighted by a sociologist named Sherwin J.
Feinhandler. Since these functions have been confirmed by
independent investigations, we believe they are central to
smoking's role in America. -
In order to acknowledge these functions and to set the stage for
the Archetype discussion, an excerpt from Feinhandler's chapter
"The Social Role of Smoking" is given below:
"There seems to be great agreement on the meanings underlying
smoking for smokers and non-smokers alike. Smoking in this
society is informal, sociable, and a marker of time and space.
Even the most virulent anti-smoker 'understands' the meaning
of smoking regardless of his or her attitude toward it."
"Through observational studies of smoking we have been able
to categorize smoking behavior as having personal, social,
and ordering functions. The personal uses are related to
the notion of habit in that an individual learns to
accomplish certain ends and repeats behavior for that
purpose. The social functions are primarily interpersonal
in nature. The ordering functions relate to customary ideas
of segmenting time and events and otherwise imposing order
on situations.
Personal functions include the management or enhancement of
negative and positive affect, the presentation of self and
the preparation of self for possibly stressful situations.
Social functions include the definition of social space by
mediating and maintaining boundaries, the building of social
cohesiveness by defining groups and sharing and exchanging
within groups. Ordering functions deal with marking events,
focusing attention, measuring time, marking time out, and
filling time.
Personal Functions
Presentation of Self. individuals may use tobacco with its
related paraphernalia and smoking styles to express a
specific self-image.
Positive Affect Enhancement. smokers often smoke to enhance
positive emotional states such as relaxation, gratification
and stimulation.
Negative Affect Management. smoking and its attendant
behavior can function to reduce negative feelings such as
fear, anxiety, stress, or anger.
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Social LnctionG
•
•
'
Boundary Mediation. The circles of personal space or group
space are formidable social barriers. No one steps up to a
stranger or a group and begins a conversation without some
sort of ice-breaker, an event or object external to the
participants. A smoker has a ready-made ticket into a
circle of other smokers. Smoking can aid in breaking down
the social barrier around a group of people.
Group Definition. Smoking as a common activity tends to
reinforce and affirm the relationship among members of a
group and aids in defining the participants as a group.
Exchange. The offering or accepting of a cigarette or light
serves to cement and bond social relationships. Social
relationships are most often established by performing acts or
giving objects of minor, but appreciated value. To accept an
object or a service rendered is to incur an obligation or a debt,
which when repaid, establishes a pattern of exchange.
Boundary Maintenance. People tend to evaluate their
personal association with others according to whether the
others are on the inside or outside of various social
boundaries. Rituals of hospitality are essentially
mechanisms for transforming a stranger into a friend, or
temporarily making a member of a rival group into a member
of one's own group. Tobacco has served to exclude people
from, or to distinguish, groups--to maintain boundaries.
Interactional Transition. when wishing to change the topic
of conversation or proceed to another mode of communication,
a Kikuyu speaker may say 'Let us now take a pinch of snuff.'
Smoking behavior is often used to facilitate or mark a shift
in the primary interpersonal activity.
Ordering Functions
Pacing. Smokers often use the amount of time it takes to
smoke a cigarette to measure the duration of such external
events as, for example, co-occurring activities.
Focusing Attention. Smoking can add structure to tasks. it
has been noted that smoking is an aid to concentration
Time Filling. To occupy oneself before the start of an
event over which one has no control, one may smoke a
cigarette.
Time Out. Time out is a break or relaxation period from
other activities. smokers may commence these other
activities at leisure, with the act of smoking to mark time
out. Because smokers can almost always carry thoir
cigarettes with them, they have a portable symbol of this
'break time.' They can mark a situation as their own by
lighting up.
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Orderina Functions (Contldj
Event Marking. Smoking often occurs before or after an event,
acting to mark a beginning or ending. Smoking thus serves to
frame the events and reflect the human.propensity to
categorize and organize events so that they are both bounded
and sensible."
While we acknowledge these roles played by smoking, the Archetype
approach seeks to go beyond the superficial rational/cognitive
functions of an activity and uncover its emotional underpinnings
which are unique to a particular culture. The results of this
exercise follow.
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•
