Tobacco Documents Online

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.

This letter sent to the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation's marketing department exposes in detail the behind-the-scenes activities cigarette companies go through to get cigarettes placed into major movies.

It is quite revealing. Little do today's moviegoers realize the extent to which they are being be advertised to when viewing major movies. Little do they realize either that (much to the corporations' glee) they are actually paying for the "privilege" of absorbing this unique subliminal advertising.

The writer of this document explains to B & W:

"Cigarettes as Props

1. Recently there have been a number of high-visibility feature films in which one or more of the central characters smoke a particular brand of cigarettes. This has been happening because cigarette manufacturers have been paying for the exposure. Following are some notable examples:

Movie Actor/Character Brand

"Continental Divide" John Belushi Marlboro "Superman II" Margot Kidder Marlboro "Pennies from Heaven" Steve Martin Camel "Prince of the City" Treat Williams & Merit or key supporting players Marlboro "Absence of Malice" Sally Fields Carleton

Participation in movies is not limited merely to actors smoking a particular brand. For example, 'Superman II' also included a classic fight scene in which Superman and the bad guys throw a Marlboro truck back and forth at each other on Lexington Avenue. This truck was produced solely for the movie and exists nowhere else. There are other instances of cigarette advertising serving as part of the scenery (c.f. 'Neighbors', 'Pennies from Heaven')."

Under the section entitled "RATIONALE," the writer explains that:

"By appearing in movies, RALEIGH will be receiving an implied third party endorsement. In the movie context this endorsement is considered very impactful since unlike the passive exposure of advertising and PR, the movie exposure requires a pro-active role for the viewer (i.e, the viewer must _go_ to the theatre and _pay_ to watch the films)."

He also explains how the placement of cigarettes in the movies favorably impacts the audience towards the brand"

"...Although the placement _may_ not be consistent with RALEIGH's image, the placements will almost certainly be consistent ith some psycho framework into which the viewer wants to project. The Brand can become identified with something or someone that is desireable to a specific viewer set."

According to this document, the practice of paying to place products in movies is practically ubiquitous. The writer lists some other products whose manufacturers and/or service providers have placed them in movies: "Coppertone, Budweiser, Coors, Apple Computers, Kawasaki, United Airlines and American Airlines are a few other sponsors who have recently bought into films."

This report from Brown & Williamson (B&W) describes the mechanism through which movie stars were recruited to use specific cigarette brands in their films in exchange for money and gifts.

The report explains the benefits of movie placement, and how cigarette companies use stars and their images to subtly market cigarettes through film:

"Placement of signage/product in movies allows BWT to receive extensive exposure at minimal costs..." and,

"Product usage/association with a specific star provides exposure and linkage with a star's personality/character. Stars tend to set trends, e.g., disco dancing with 'Saturday Night Fever...Association with a specific star's image can enhance/build a brand's personality -- more so than traditional media."

Movie placement also allows tobacco companies to "reach smokers who are light readers."

One "con" listed to placement of cigarette brands in the movies is that it "could be construed as aiding and abetting tax evasion--primarily because AFP [the promotion company in charge of placing the product] has been making payments in cash and gifts, rather than by check." Another "con" is that the cigarette companies could be required to place a health warning in the film...an indication that the cigarette companies took advantage of a situation in which their products could be freely promoted to the public without a health warning.

The five-page report recommends that the company continue its program of product placement in movies, even though the company risks adverse publicity by doing so. In a section entitled "Rationale," the report minimizes the risk to itself, saying any adverse publicity would be shared by many companies, and not just them:

"Adverse publicity, if any, will be leveled against entire industry, or all packaged goods advertisers who use this medium...not just BWT. Thus, the potential for embarassment to BWT specifically, is limited."

This document's historical significance is that it shows how cigarettes were placed in movies without leaving a paper trail, e.g. by "making payments in cash and gifts, rather than by check," and shows clearly how fully utilizing a new route of promotion (and beating the compeition in doing it) became the prime focus of cigarette companies, to the detriment of public health.

This document mostly consists of sociological observations of the behavior and lifestyles of young male citizens of the Ivory Coast for the purpose of marketing cigarettes to this group. The paper makes some intimate observations about life in the Ivory Coast. Buried in the document are inferences that the cigarette pack is important for developing peer pressure to smoke a certain brand. The document notes in several places that this type of marketing tool is absent in poorer countries, where smokers typically purchase cigarettes "by the stick" rather they by the pack.

Perhaps most important are inferences in the document that a goal of cigarette advertising is less to merely influence brand choice than to stimulate increased consumption of cigarettes, a point the tobacco industry typically denies. This is evident in the following passages:

"Even if brand choices are not influenced by outdoor or POS [point of sale advertising] materials, when a smoker is just walking around there is the potential for stimulating the desire to smoke by appropriate materials. One would judge that such materials, in order to achieve that effect, should themselves show smoking."

and

"It is quite common for people when they have nothing to do, to just walk around...there are opportunities in this "empty time" to stimulate consumption using materials which show smoking as a trigger to the desire to smoke..." ..."

This confidential 1993 Philip Morris memo shows that TIME magazine entered into an agreement with Philip Morris to merge its customer database with PM's smoker database to help PM sell cigarettes. An objective "was to create 'smoker' editions of TIME's publications" and to help PM "speak to smokers in innovative and highly targeted ways."

Selective binding is a computerized, database-driven binding process allows publishers to break out regional or interest-specific advertising and/or editorial editions of a given issue. Presumably, such a system would enable TIME to remove cigarette ads from issues of the magazine going to schools, however apparently TIME has not done this, as many issues of the magazine arriving at school libraries continue to carry cigarette advertisements. Photos of TIME magazine issues carrying tobacco ads that were mailed to schools can be seen at http://whyquit.com/ads/Time_Warner.html

TIME Inc., is the publisher of more than 125 magazines that carry tobacco ads, and five that don't.

Recently, the American Legacy Foundation (the organization set up by the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement to fight tobacco use) held a $500 a plate award dinner where it presented TIME magazine with a prestigious tobacco control award for “helping the American Legacy Foundation reach a national audience in support of the foundation’s educational and awareness campaigns.”

Several public health physicians strongly criticized Legacy's giving TIME this award in an article published in the March 4, 2005 edition of The Cancer Letter. [Legacy Foundation Calls Time Inc. "Hero" Of Tobacco Control, But Activists See Villain, By Kirsten Boyd Goldberg, The Cancer Letter, March 4, 2005 (Vol. 31 No. 9)www.cancerletter.com ] Legacy was also criticized for its action by the American Council on Science and Health in a February 4 editorial entitled, "TIME is not on our side," by Rivka Weiser, who said,

"While Time, Inc. has taken some steps to support tobacco control, it is shocking that the corporation is being given a high-profile award for its advancement of the cause. Time, Inc.’s four most highly-circulated magazines -TIME (its flagship magazine), Family Circle, People, and Sports Illustrated - which reach a paid circulation of over 15 million readers combined (and therefore bring in much advertising revenue), all promote smoking through their cigarette ads." http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.510/news_detail.asp

This 1999 magazine article describes the "Marlboro Magician Program," in which Philip Morris employed professional magicians in 62 major cities throughout the country to go to "intimate, upscale" bars and perform magic tricks that utilized Marlboro cigarettes as centerpieces, like a vanishing cigarette trick and a $100 "bill-to-cigarette" routine. According to the article, the program was so successful that R.J. Reynolds planned to start a similar program.