Tobacco Documents Online

Statement of The American Tobacco Company for Submission, to the Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Hazardous Materials of the U;.S. House of Renresentatfves Committee on Energy an&Cbmme*ce By letter dated April 7,1988'. theChairman ofth~e Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and, Hazardous Materials of'the U.S. House of Representatives has asked, The. American Tobacco: Company tolcomment oniseweral' issues regardingladvertising foritsCARLTOUcig!aretteproducts.. In particular, the Subcommittee has raised issues with respect toiclaims by CARLTCIN ' and~ NOW cigarettes to be "lowest" initar, tar and'nicotine test methodology and the "message" communicated by CARLTON'advertising., The CARLTON cigarette brand, has, since its inception, been marketed im response toe the preference of some smokers for lower tar cigarettes. In this connection,. "low"', "lower" and "'liowest" tar claims have frequently been u~sed to compare various styles of CARLTON cigarettes with competitive!produets., The issue of whether two cigarette products could claim to: be the "lowest" was addressed'at a fairly early stage, in litigation,between The American Tobacco~ Company and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the United States District Cou~rt for the Southern District of New York arisi~ng, out of' 'lowest" claims for CARLTON amd, NOW cigarettes. In that action,,, Judge Mo.rri&E. L.asker refused tolfind'that a"lowest"' claim wouild necessarily lead consumers tolbelieve that no other cigarette is as low.

Since 1970, pursuant to a cigarette industry voluntary agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, every cigarettee advertisement that The American, Tobacco Company issues has contained a disclosure of the tar andinicotine content of the advertised brand. Moreover,, since 1971 The American Tobacco Company had compli~ed with aFed'eral Trade Commission, Consent Order that sets forth explicit di~sclosure obligations in advertisements in which a"'low', "lower" or "redoced'" tar claim is made or in which the tar of an American Tobacco cigarette brand is compared to the tar of another cigarette brand., The American Tobacco, Company has fully complied wi~th each of these oblig,ations. Until, recently,, the testing of' the tar and nicotine of cig,arettes has been the responsibility of the Federal Trade Commission., Since 19'87 this testing has been, conducted by the Tobacco Institute Testing Laboratory, with, oversight by Federal Trade Commission, p!ersonnel. CARLTON!advertising is intended to provide smokers with information to: enable them to.decidle whether to smoke that pro~duct., Throughout its history, inadd~ition to the required advertising discSosures, every package oE CARLTON cigarettes has clearly disclosed the tar and nicotine of the product., There are currently nine varieties of CARLTON ci'garettes, each competing: in, a di~stinct product "niche'. In some instances a particular advertlsmenit is directed to smolters of one of the many types of'cigarette, such as 2

100's, onenthol or kings., For example, the CARLTON' advertisements attached to the Subcommittee's April 7, 1988 letter relate to soft pack king, size cigarettes, whereas the. NOW advertisements attached to that letter relate to soft pack 10V's cigarettes. In, other instances the tar and nicotine:levels of a particular CARLTON cigarette have been compared to those of identified competing products. CARLTON advertising has been and remains in full compliance with all elements of the federal reguilatory scheme for cigarettes and is neither misleadinginor deceptive in any respect., r April 11, 1988 Q9. Q ~ C 4a I a `F