Tobacco Documents Online

Second 'DRAFT (, C Suggested reply to Senator Kennedy's letter. This acknowledges your letter of August 22, 1967. I am happy to have this opportunity of telling you directly what Erov, n & \Villiamson's advertising policy is so far as appeal to youth is concerned. Before going into some detail, let me state unequivocally that t\~o -" " of the basic principals in our advertising policy ~-re: 1. We do not advertise in television shows ~vith special appeal to youth. 2. '~Ve do not in our television commercials use situations with particular appeal to youth nor do we depict ¢ " " _mo.an~, in ways uniquely attractive to young people. These policies are not new and are not the result of the unproven attacks on cigarette smoking as a health hazard. (Since this letter is on the subject of adve~ising I shall refrain from discusaing the "health" issue except to comment that some of the reports entered into the record in cormection with your statement on the Senate floor on May 17th. 1967 are provably false or misleading.) In implementing pa~ one of our basic policy - not to adve~ise in TV sho~s with special appeal to youth - we carefully a_n_,lyze the audience - composition of each show that is available to us. If the shov. being mnalyzeJ has been on the air in the same time period, we depend to a large extent on its track record. Ir it is a hey, show we consider program content, time of broadcast, preceding and follo~ing shows and, very importan'~ly, compet:ng 7

programs. To consider time o[ broadcast only and use as a rule of thurr.b only shows after ~:00 p.m, would not accomplish our ob3ective. \Ve have for years sponsored early evening newscasts. The percentage of "under 21" viewers in the audier.ce for these shows is much less than for many shows after 9:00 p.m. Similarly, since many early evening shows are desired to appeal to the younger audience, it is possible to buy opposite such shows and achie~,e a much older audience composition than shows ",alter 9:00 p. m. As a result of this thorough analysis, the average of the adult (over 21) share of audience to all Brown & Williamson's programs in the second quarter of 1967 (the last full rating period available) was 70%. Only one new show out of the scores that we have been involved in over the past several years has failed to meet our criteria. In this single instance, as soon as the first preliminary audience composition repots indicated this show was on the border line, we cancelled our participation. (This show, incidentally, was after 9:O0 p.m.) In implementing part two of our basic policy - not to use situations with particular appeal to youth nor depict _~moking in~ays uniquely attrac- tive to young people - we have established a numbat of guidelines, the more pertinent of which are listed below. .. 1. ~e do not use any actors or actresses who are under 25 years of age. 2. V,e do not use endorsements of athletes, movie stars or any individuals who because of their name or occupation would hare a particular appeal to youth.

-3- :~. We do not use s~tu',tLons where the actors appearin~ a~ smokers are en~aged Ln any game~. ~po~s aci~wt~e~, or occupations which might have • pa~cu~ar appea~ to youth. 4. We do not u~e situations or d~alo~e that would showy, claim or lmpIy that cigaTett~ ~mo'.~In~ ~s es=ent~ to/or ~es~It£ ~n social ~cceptance. =ex~=l attraction or b~sines= =ucce=~. ~ =ho~. ~e u~e adult =ltuation= with an adult ¢m=t ~.hich =re de~ed to =eli to ~du~t~ our brands o~ ctgarette~ a=ain~t the bT~d= o£ our competitors. Any a=~umption that the b~inE o~ ~ mdve~=¢n= would reduce tota~ cigarette =~e~ i~ to • large e~tent negated by the re~ent e~perlence S~e~ ~ ~gl~d t~ay are hi~her than they were before the {etevislon b~ on cigarette adve~ising. To tnte~ere t, tth e~fectit'e br~d a~ve~=ing ~ou~d serve only to =olidlfy the entrenched posit~on of the b~g brads. ~h=s would have the effect o£ treating a monopolistic condition v~=ch I am sure you do not advocate. I spe~k witZ a certain a~oun¢ of experience, s~ce ~llli~on has £~wn from practica~y nothing ~to ~e two big comp~ies ~o accost ~or over 5~, o{ the tot~ cigarette b~stness as a result of plonee~n~ ~ effectively adee~is~ new types o~ cigarettes. one of w~ch was the filter cigare~e. ] t~st t~t the {acts o~Itned ~bove wll~ dentonslrate that we are ~ve been o~rating ~ acco~ with your ~ltcy not to appeal to youth ~d t~t ~y ~rrier~ to effective competitive adve~sing would not be in the ~teresl of the American public.