Tobacco Documents Online

227 ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH 2013 H St., N.W. • Washington D.C. 20006 •(2021 659<310 TESTIMONY OF ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH (ASH), BY ITS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CHIEF COUNSEL, JOHN F. BANZHAF III, BEFORE THE SENATE CONMITTEE ON LABOR AND H[MAN RESOURCES, CHAIRED BY THE HONORABLE ORRIN G. HA1CH, ON THE CONPREHENSIVE SMOKING PREVENTION EDUCATION ACT (S. 1929) Submitted April 2, 1982 I am happy to appear before you on behalf of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) to strongly support The Comprehensive Smoking Prevention Fducation Act. As you may know, Action on Smoking and Health is a national nonprofit organization which serves as the legal action arm of the antismoking community. In this capacity it has been directly involved in virtually all major actions concerning cigarette smoking and advertising. For example, in my individual capacity I filed the complaint at the Federal Communications Commission which led to the requirement that stations make free time available for antismoking messages under the Fairness Doctrine. Shortly thereafter ASH was formed and played a major role in upholding the Congressionally-imposed ban on cigarette advertising. ASH was also instrumental in forcing "little cigar" ads off the air and in persuading the Federal Trade Commission to file complaints against the tobacco industry concerning various cigarette advertisements. In my individual capacity as a Professor of Iaw at the National Iaw Center of the Ceorge Washington t4iiversity I was able to persuade the Federal Trade Commission to adopt corrective advertising as a weapon against deceptive ads. Since that time I have participated in numerous proceedings concerning deceptive advertising at the Commission, including a major fact-finding proceeding concerning the permanent effects of advertising. On the basis of this experience it is my judgment that the requirement of stronger, clearer, more specific health warnings is a necessary and long-overdue step. This, coupled with the idea of changing, or "rotating," warnings will do much to make them more effective and to bring them forcefully to the public's attention. Because the need for these warnings has been amply demonstrated in other testimony and in many stu3ies by the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies, I will not dwell on this aspect. However, I think it is important for the Congress to appreciate the depths to which the tobacco industry will descend to try to lure young people into smoking and to negate or otherwise distract their attention from the serious health problems it presents. 1b dramatize this, I am attaching, as part of my testimony, a portion of a confidential report prepared by the Staff of the Federal Trade Commission and -- for reasons one may well conjecture -- not made available to Congress or the public. 1fie report demonstrates many things. First, the industry apparently has nothing but contempt for people who use its product or people who might be persuaded to do so. For example, a tobacco industry report at page 2-16 of the Federal Trade Commission's confidential document says, 0

228 2. Thus, the smokers have to face the fact that they are illogical, irrational and stupid ... . . . ... smokers don't like to be reminded of the fact that they are illogical and irrational. The report also demonstrates that the tobacco industry actively encourages smoking by young people and actively designs campaigns to encourage them to begin smoking. For example, among the atrategies for attracting young 'starters' to cigarette smoking are the following: Present the cigarette as one of a few initiations into the adult wvrld. Present the cigarette as part of the illicit pleasure category of products and activities. 1b the best of your ability, (considering some legal constraints), relate the cigarette to 'pot', wine, beer, sex, etc. Third, this confidential document makes it abundantly clear that the tobacco companies use a variety of means to detract from and undermine the health warning on cigarettes. Oi this point I think the report speaks most forcefully for itself. In addition to including this report as a part of ASH's testimony, Action on Smoking and Health would like to respectfully request and suggest that the Committee demand from the Federal Trade Commission the various documents cited in the report and place them, also, in the record, so that Members of Congress may be fully advised on the tobacco industry's strategy and techniques and the effectiveness of their advertisements prior to a vote on this issue. 229 , ltECEIVED MAR 1 515Rt THIS DOCUM: CONFIDENTIA: FEDERAL TRAI STAFF REI CIGARETTE ADVERT: E Matthew Pro9ras Craig Is Carol Je Nilliam Eleanor Andrew S APPROVEDs Collot Guerard Deputy Assistant Director Division of Advertising Practice Wallace S. Snyder Assistant Director Division of Advertising Practice CONCUR: James Sneed Director Bureau of Consumer Protection