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The Letters You and Other Members of Your Class Wrote to Various Officials of Our Company Regarding A Winston Ad You Saw in the Los Angeles Times Have Come to This Department for Reply.

Abstract

This letter from T.K. Cahill of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company public relations department was apparently written in response to a 5th grade elementary school class in Santa Monica, California, who wrote RJR protest a Winston cigarette advertisement that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Cahill assures the children that cigarette advertising is not directed at youth, but also brazenly tells them that "medical science has not found any conclusive evidence that an element in tobacco or tobacco smoke causes any human disease." (The first major Surgeon General's report linking cigarette smoking with disease was issued in 1964, eight years before this letter was written).

Then, in a classic example of the industry's application of its Council for Tobacco Research for public relations, Cahill tells the children that,

"... in a sincere attempt to determine what harmful effects, if any, smoking might have on human health, established The Council for Tobacco Research..."

and

"...The answers to the many unanswered smoking and health questions--and the true causes of human diseases--can, we believe, be determined by scientific research. Our Company intends, therefore, to continue to support such research until the truth is known."

Fields

Notes

Thanks to Madelyn Chaber for bringing this document to Doc-Alert's attention.

Quotes

R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company Winston-Salem, N. C. 27102

April 7, 1972

Mr. Kenneth Bersinger 5th Grade, Room 404 Will Rogers Elementary School 2401 Fourteenth Street Santa Monica, California 90405

Dear Mr. Bersinger:

The letters you and other members of your class wrote to various officials of our Company regarding a WINSTON ad you saw in the Los Angeles Times have come to this department for reply. We appreciate the opportunity your letters give us to furnish you our viewpoint.

The primary objective of the entire R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company advertising effort is to reach adult smokers. None of our cigarette advertising, either in its content or in the media used, is directed to youth. Provisions of the Cigarette Advertising Code, to which our company adheres, prohibit advertising that would have a high appeal to the youth of the nation.

The tobacco industry is most concerned about the charges being made that smoking is responsible for so many serious diseases. Long before the present criticism began, the tobacco industry, in a sincere attempt to determine what harmful effects, if any, smoking might have on human health, established The Council for Tobacco Research. The industry also supports research grants directed by the American Medical Association.

Despite all the research going on, medical science has not found any conclusive evidence that an element in tobacco or tobacco smoke causes any human disease. The answers to the many unanswered smoking and health questions--and the true causes of human diseases--can, we believe, be determined by scientific research. Our Company intends, therefore, to continue to support such research until the truth is known.

I trust that these comments and the enclosed materials will help you to understand our position on this matter.

Sincerely,

T. K. Cahill Public Relations Department

Company

R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company

Author

Cahill, Tim K. (RJR Public Relations Dept., c. 1972)

Recipient

Bersinger, Kenneth, 5th Grade teacher, Will Rogers Elem School, Santa Monica, CA

Region

United States

California

Type

CONSUMER LETTER

Named Person

CTR, Industry Research Committee

Defense

AMA, American Medical Association

Los Angeles Times

Subject

youth

youth initiation

Youth Smoking Prevention Programs (Industry-sponsored youth smoking prevention programs)

Designed to stave off further legislated marketing restrictions

health belief

industry front group

industry sponsored research