Piscitelli, P.; Trach, Barbara; Alverson, Cappie; Chaikin, Karen; Crawford, D.
This 1996 Philip Morris (PM) memo from a Philip Morris Issues Manager demonstrates PM's strategy to target legislators with "issue advertising." Issue advertising is advertising that Philip Morris creates to make a favorable impression on legislators.
In this memo, the cigarette company's government affairs and media specialists discuss plans to rent ad space on hundreds of taxi cabs in New Orleans at the time when a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislators was in town, because, after all:
"During NCSL, state legislators and their families may take a lot of cab rides."
The memo also suggests they consider including 501(c)(3) groups (nonprofit groups) in the plan. Philip Morris set up and/or backed numerous nonprofit groups that served its interests, like smokers rights groups, groups against government intervention, etc. It is likely that these are the types of nonprofit groups that the writer, Josh Slavitt, is referring to.