Tobacco Documents Online

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APPENDIX B: ELEMENTS OF POSITIVE STRATEGY NEW INITIATIVES FOR INDUS'TRYACTI~ON'

P'ROGFRAMS THAT ADDRESS IMMEDIATE CO'NCERNS'

FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION Summary The prevention, and' the fighting of fires is principally a matter, of' public safety.. But it is the nature~of'f'ire:to produce controversy„ heroes, culpritss and victims. Fire is often the focus of politicians andlj'ournalists. assigning blame„ scientists attempting to establish, cause:, educators. hoping to promote public awareness,, labor of'ficials seeking more! resources,, andivolunteers seeking more volunteers., Tnsurance com- panies lead a wide ra~ng,e of businesses concernedlabout the property and lives lost to fire.. With,all of the attention afforded fire in, this country,, it is remarkable that the U'.nited States has the highest fire d'eath rate of' virtually any nation on earth. Of the many causes of'fire,, careless cigairette smoking seems to:havee increasingly caught the attention of'politieians and jou~rnalists. The solution they and some fire officials propose is the creation of` a self-extinguishing cigarette. Bil'ls, have been submitted'at the federal level and in several state legislatures. As an issue, cig- arette-related f'ires continue!to rise in prominence. The irony is that as.a category, cigarette-rel'ated fires have appa- rently decreased by 20 percent inithe.last three years -- a statis- tic expected to be released'l this, Spring by: federal officials., But even with that dowinward', trend, it is unlikely that the issue will go away by itself: anti-smokers have targeted self-extinguishing, legislation as a national priority. And'with some fire officials, behindithemi, the.anti-smokers, stand a fair chance of succeeding with some of these proposals. To date, the industry response has been twofoTd: 1., The, industry has said!it can not make a self- extinguishing,cigarette withouit unduly affecting, the nature of the product; and that some sub- stances will ignite with even a casual brush with a lit cigarette., 2. The industry had alsolworked withithe na.tion''s furniture manufacturers to~promote.fire resistantt furniture. But substantial work still needs to~ be done in that area.,

Fire Safety E'ducation Page 2 Neither industry response has been particularly effective in off- setting, fire scarr d victims interviewed by the news media and' paraded before legislative committees. A strong, visible, positive tobacco~ industry effort -- a,t this time -- is needed' to reverse the trend toward self-exting,uishing cigai- rette legislation, There are three factors which suggest that firefighters would be willing to work with us. 1. With the phasing out of'the U.SI. Fire Safety Adlministrationi„ firefighters have lost a major national voice in the effort to diminish acci- dental fire losses. 2'. Public funds are growing scarce. Firefighters must compete vigorously for financial support. There is,, in fact, a substantial need' for suit- able equipment and fire retard'ant clothing. 3. Firefighters are not anti-smokers per se. They are legitimately concerned about fire safety andi should respond favorably toianieffective program of fire safety proposed by the tobacco i ndu s try .. Possible Industry Efforts. The industry"s efforts could have three parts: 1. Fire Safety Education Cigarettes are one of a vast number of consumer products which if'used carelessly can cause fires. A national campaign built around~that concept and conducted in cooperation withimaj'or national firefighting grouips* and local fire departments would establish the industry as actively dealing with the issue. By way of an example, we would suggest the following: The campaign would feature a calendar. Ealch month would,, in turn,, display the fire hazards most typically found at that time of year. In that way, consumers would~be reminded -- say, in December -- toldecorate their Christmas tree safely, ensure a clean chimney, check their wood burning stove, and look outt for inebriated friends with cigarettes at holiday parties. Each month would feature a different set of safety reminders. * We couTd' work with the National Fire Protection Association and its 3'1,000 members; the International Association of'Fire Chiefs and its 7,2001 members; the International Association of' Firefighters, a unioni with 175,000 members; and/or the Foundation for Fire Safety whichiserves as the firefighting,industry''s research component.

Fire Safety Education Page 3 The campaign would have as its theme: "The Tobacco Institute and your local fire d'epartment bring you a safe (December).'r' The calendar might be distributed as a cooperative venture by local TAN groups and' fire departments, each month, the appropriate page full page advertisement in local messages would tell listeners to p a g'e'• In this formalt the program couldi all the while building localized~ firefighters. Additionally, at the beginning of' of' thie calendar would be runials a newspapers. Local radio promotional look for the advertisement/calendar continue locally for some time -- relationships with rank and file. 2'. Support of Firefighters While firefighters are greatly concernedlabout safety, they aree at least equally concerned about job security, the quality of their equipment and the advancement of what they call "fire- matics"' -- the knowledge of fire. The industry could play alsomewhat low key role in helping fire- fighters in such a:reas., For exaimple: a., M'ainy local fire departments rely on volunteer main- power. An indust.ry-developed volunteer recruitment caimpaign couild be made available in kit form and presented state by state to the chiefs of volunteer •departments. Again, this could be conducted in cooperation with a maj'or national firefighting group. b. The industry could' fund a study to determine why cigarette-caused fires are onithe decrease -- in the hope that, by identifying, the faictors involved, the downward trend could continue. This study could be conducted by one of the ma jor national firefighting groups cooperating in other ways with the ind'ustry., c. The industry could support a study of the factors resulting in a lower incidence of accidental fires ini Europe than in the U'nited States. The purpose would be to illustrate the importance of effective public education activities. d~. The industry should continue to work with the furL niture manufacturers to promote the use of fire re- sistant fabrics.

RESPONSIBLE LIVING: ADULT DECISIONS' AND TEENAGE S'MGI4ING. Summary Teenage smoking: despite reports that it is on the:decline, it con- tinues to g,row, as an issue.. The tobacco industry says it does not want youngsters to smoke. But our critics say we do: that our advertising is geared to glam- orize smoking and to presenting it to children as an adult thing to do., About a thirdf of' all Americans agree. So do various government officials., In.its staff report on ciga- rette advertising, the Federal Trade Commission berated the industry for not better regulating itself in this area. "'Unlike~ the liquor industry, cigarette manufacturers have never produced an advertisement discouraging use of their product by young people and children," the report complained. An industry advertising code adopted' in 119'64I to deal with th,e issuie of children and smoking, was .called "loosely enforced" and "ineffective"' in that same report.. Federal and local legislation has been proposed to d'eali with the issue. And, naturally, anti-smoking groups have spent a good deal of time and' moniey: discouraging youngsters fromismoking,., Saturday morning television -- aimedllargely at small children -- even car- ries anti-smoking messages: some featuring Stair Wars and! cartoon characters. - Despite the - tobaccolindustry's repeat.ed'assertions against teenage! smoking,,, we continue to~ beseenais~ th,eproblem -- and certa~inlyn~ot part of the solution. Our critics argue that the industry''s future customers are now in their teenage years -- that the tobacco indus- try und'erstand's that to discourage them, from smoking now could have serious financial implications in the future. Aniti-smokers also argue that the industry refuses to acknowledge the "best"' reasons for youngsters not smoking: "that smoking is dang- erous and addictive."' P'ossible Industry Efforts In order to offset further erosion, of the industry's image in this area,, and to avoi:d further legislative forays, the:tobacco industry should take two actions: ~ ~ c.~ +s+ ~ ~

Responsible Living Page 2' 11. Clearly andy visibly announce our position on teenage smoking to the public generally and to leaders of all youth-oriented' org,anlzatlons., A national advertisement -- p~o sibly one installment of our national campaign -- should state even mor& clearly than we have,, our position against teenagers smoking,,, and announce our inten- tions to actively discourage teenagers from smoking. (.See P rogram. 2 )'. This advertisement, in reprint form, would then be sent with appropirialte cover letters to federal and state elected and appointed of'ficials, and to th,e adult leadership of programs directed at children, i.e., scouts,, schools, athletics, churches, daycare, etc. 2. "A program to depict cigarette smoking as one of many activities some people choose to do as adults. The theme "'responsible living" ' is embraced by many educators as ainieffective way of establishing positive role models for children., In essence, the approach emphasizes that youngsters must assume responsibility for the way they act -- accepting the fact that certain activities are culturally reserired for adults. Voting, driving a car,, drinking alcoholic beverages, marria~ge, having children and smoking all fall in this category. A~ll are maittersi of personal choice -- to be engaged in by informed:, mature p-eo?pl'e. An industry program along this line would!be conducted in close cooperationwith major national educational organizations and would' be directly supportive of' their existing,"responsible living" programs. Our' su'ppo'rt would include the provision of' high quality adver- tising andi commuinication materials and kits for locall educators to initiate "responsible living,"' programs. ~ ~ ~ W1 4~_ ~

F'RO~GIR'A',MS~ WI~TH~ L©N~G~-~TERM', B'EIVEF'I~TS'~.

THE ALTERNATIVE CH'AR',ITY Summary The large voluntary health associations and other non-profit heallth institutions are mulch, the same as any: marketing-oriented corporation. I!nstead'of consumer products, they sell the assurance that someone is doing something about various dread diseases. Instead of mass com- munication, they utilize mass involvement -- much the same as Fuller B'rushi or Avon does with local, dloor-to-door sales. And just as a consumer goods company sells the uniqiu~eness of its product, the vol- unitary associations sell their uniqueness as the funnels throug,h. whichl funds and effort will be directed to conquer disease. It is an effective approach -- but one which requires large expen- dlitures for promotion, the maintenance of local offices and!staff', travel and a wide range of other items not in the least related to meaningful medical research and treatment. The fact that the tobacco industry: has spent more on smoking and'. .heaTth research than the voluntary healthi associations who tailk so much about it may say more about the health associations than our industry. Yet there are many-health research organizations which conduct them- selves differently. Th,ey may be associated with single institutions, . su~ch as thle Vincent T. Lombardi Cancer Research Center at Georgetown iTniversity,, or St. Jude's Children''s Research Hospital in Memphis. A, common factor is that theyneed and' deserve promotional assistance. An example is the Damon Runyon-W'.alter Winchell Cancer Fund which operates so quietly: that it is virtually unknown to many Americans. It was organized to ensure: that all fund-raising is for the sole pur- pose of supporting,research. Administrative costs are handled throughh a separate endowment. Some funds are raised through a theater ticket service and investments -- but the majority of the money is donated by large corporations. The Fuind's Board of Directors and its ad'visory committees are peopled with well known persons in the fields of business,, entertainment, the niews media and health, including,some who personally oppose smoking. Bob Hope is honorary chairman of the board; actor John Ritter, col- umnist Jimmy Breslin, radio commentator Jack O'Brien, football coach Darrell Royal and former Secretary of the Treasury William Simon ailll are active, as is Charles LeM',aistre who recently testified in personal support of' the Hatch bill. The tobacco industry has already expressed financial and other support to the Fund -- largely because of th~e Fund's dedication: to finding answers to, the questions about cancer,, and because of its strictt avoidance of propaganda regarding cancer "causes."' But a broader,, more visible tobacco industry involvement would achieve several things: