Anne Landman's Collection
I Have Just Gone Through One Hell of A Christmas!!
Abstract
This typewritten, post-holiday greeting card was sent to R.J. Reynolds (RJR) by a five pack-a-day smoker of Salem Preferred Light 100's. After describing obstacles she encountered over the holidays (difficulties in keeping herself supplied with Salem cigarettes, persistent family complaints about her smoking, an assortment of respiratory and cardiac illnesses, difficulty getting around the mall due to shortness of breath), the writer asks RJR to "keep those coupons coming" because her Salems are expensive.
Despite the text describing multiple illnesses, she signs the letter, "A serious, heavy, healthy Salem addict since the tender age of nine!" A handwritten note at the top of the card (apparently added by someone at RJR) reads,
"Abuser. NR [No Response] 01-31-00"
Occasionally the letters smokers write to their tobacco companies are so bizarre that there is a temptation to believe they aren't real. This is one such letter. The handwritten notation on the card leads us to assume that RJR took the card at face value, and may also offer tacit recognition by someone at RJR that cigarettes are a drug subject to abuse. If the letter is real, the letter is emblematic of the irrational relationship smokers develop with a product that maims and kills them (even when the harm is already obvious).
Warning: The letter contains profanity. Full text is below.
Fields
- Quotes
Salem:
I have just gone through one hell of a Christmas! My damn Safari wagon did not start up at all! Every time I was making a damn Salem run! Damn! My family also ragged on me again about my Salem preferred light 100's! My five daily packs keep me sane, no matter who screws up! They also help me chain-smoke without smelling like it. My family yelled about my shortness of breat, hoarse, intense and violent hack attacks, along with my acute asthma and severe, chronic bronchitis! Damn! They also yelled about my hypertension and angina! They frequently pointed out that I have not been able to run since the seventh grade and even short walks make me totally out of breath and completely ragged out. They even yelled at me at the mall because I got extremely winded and out of breath after climbing some stairs. Stairs are damn killers! I did not go crazy only because I had my Salems to chain-smoke! Every puff on my daily preferred light 100's was pure pleasure. Fuckin' A!
Thank you again and keep those coupons coming. My damn precious Salem preferred ligth 100's are so damn fucking expensive! A serious, heavy, healthy Salem addict since the tender age of nine!
- Company
- R.J. Reynolds
- Author
- Phillips, Brenda
- Recipient
- Salem
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