Tobacco Documents Online

ib smokers who succumbed'' to lurng c: ncer alone' in the course of an average weclr, it would necd not z.1; pictures, but at least four times that nulnber. 1-Ibnv can any publisher - anyone - n:a:c raloney out of seilinb advertisements for a product that is known to cause death on a disastrous national scale year after year? The record of Tie?aeis no more en,_-c,ur;.~;':n:- than Li f'e in this respect. The f;rst three issues of Tiute for , i97o carried ci ;'.-it pa-es of cit arette iuvertIsinn. The first three issucs of the same magazine for 1971 c:zrried a, little less tlian 21 pa^;es of ci~arett'e aa ;•ei4isin-. Ancl \'erusta~~'ta: is not mu:.ar 1SetUer tiiasu Ti?.:^: In the first three months of -:io-o, carricJ z3pnges of cig<:rette acl~ er;isin~ and for the' first ci?arter of 1C'~j,l, ~~Cii~si('!'Cr.` }ta5 90'.l£-JlilE?d 50~ !!Oic1?;arett'eaclvcrtisiu;;- an ~crease of 1103' hercei;t. ".Itd :io,oodycan accuse' the editors of l~`~~s,ece:; any -more than one could acctae the editor;of Time an,i Li f'e; of not , knowina the fects about the eat:s:zl' rcl.-tion''"iip tic- tween cigarette snio!<ing ,.n d lung cancer and other fatal disca scs. N'orcan the c,?itors ofLoc:;ccJai:ninno- een.ce aLout the facts cenl-eraing cig.3re:;e smol.iii g and disease. Thef'act that Li!! cai;(i Look are in financial troublc can ha'ru;y be vii'we:1 as an accept: ~,:.le' excuse for their trying lu prop up ti°,cir ci,rporate )iealthi at the expense of the 'i:.2Ith of their readers. With c£rt~,:Il honoratJ!e etiCeptl^on5,, sUCll 'S ~a1fC~7dii O SC ?C and iSi:o CGGtit: Nast Y I!`"{C ..;011 that, .J 4.7i THE h:E]:V' hE'I'UULlC , I~ tobacco i'niIa'ry from n.:` e advertising can;uci`;ns in Q tlic furthcrance of what can unly be regli..a.e:r-con- ~ ~ . O so:llc' measurc' of governmental control over ciga.etite advertisi:lj ::rc altozJether insufficient to restra~n the because they are meant' to appeal to youn~; V:omen, have decijc,l against taking civarette adverti_:inn, the i:omen's ma,,u:iics as a v:holc are so!ic:'ir. ;vd ac- cepting & new flood of cigarette advertis'.,: ;. What makes the use of this medium of advertising so par- tirularly detestabie is the knoNwledoe that a1,'hough women are less prone to lung cancer than mcn, the lung-cancer rate among women smokers in the last fift:?en years has shown an alarming rise. Furtherr,. women, v:hen tL•cy try to stop smoking, aopear to have t;re3ter difficulty t}`~an men in breakinb t^::~~~el~'es of tne habit. To cc::r.teract the trend among the sm.o.L•ing population ~cner'aliy toward cutti'ng, dovvnon cisirette consUmr',ion, tobacco manufact.Irers are makin_; great e;rt rts to :Ieveic.~p' the market' annong tixom,en - in par- t:cu1a: bv' a.ut::n~ out neV: brands of c:~3rette ,ar',yat- "i;olged"~ in such' a way ast'o seem: particu? tractive in' the' female market. Hu ge sums have been po.?red'~ intothcpromotioni of new "women's" ciga- r2tt'es such as Virginia Sliins, put out by ap ,.iorris,. ; n,i Eve, wh,ich Li--,ett & Myers has intro,.t:ced this year on ainational scale with hut;e' double-pa~c' color spreads in the major mag: zines of ceneraI circulation znd in the womrn's magazines. The introauctory ads for %';omen a rc headed, "Farewell to the ual~1, ci`r.rette. Smohe pretty. Lve." The acccmpanying copy voes on, "}'Iello to Eve. The first truly feminine cilg; rctte - it's al'r.o=t as pretty as you are. With pre.tv filter tip. I'rettyy pack. Rich, yet gentle flavor . . . Womcn have been ferninine since Eve: Now ci;arettes are ferninine. Since' Eve." The ~:di is illttstrated `°rith a color picture of a~ woman's hand, amid wild ,, flowers, holc:ing a pack of Eve, and the pack desip n shows the head' oi an inno- cent', lool:ing woman gazing o:,.t from a prof usion of flowers and oreenery,depicted in n:ock-tapestry style.. The deliber.:tely contrived themes in this par'~icular advertisement of innocence and of temptati'on,, and an equally del:10erate concealment, by the' hand that is shoa•,-n hol din; the package, of the message printed on the side, "ti'rarning: The Surgeon General Has Det!ermined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health," surely make this o ne of the most deceitful ci-;rct'tc advertising can;paigns yet devised. ~^ti'hnt' is perfectly clear from all this is that the Ic>-1 r-reasures that have been t al:en so far to bring }Pb sidcrin ; ti•rh.a is known about the rei',:tion_.hil; bctr.een `1flii V/ C1t ,lrC :'C SC', i ln~ and vaIlOt:S di°eases - a3 nl n ~` ~ ter on a scale. And the press as a`vhole has . ,...,. ,.. , _.. ... ~•u.._,..~,,,. "'I'jlcy jjdt? fll."~f off cJi'iii't,Pt"! .^.ll' Ir11' hc,cn unuct,rrcl fronl acting as co-con<~.ri;,,tor iiti, t'his. 1?! r f( r the s.:iie 7 V:hatt'vl': ...',,ICt,^atll'i li.ive been aa,'c to seize as a rc_uit oft'..ehaaron ci;~: rct'tc comrnezci~ils oIl tl~e :.,.. Uil- V°jt'ti9~~1~'~ t.hl,-t•,tl1C actl:ln. ha'> tti) . he t:lla'itt(1 C.r`r.reCt ti::':I ;ItllatlJ:t. Uilili'r thC'Pul`ilc I IC.llth C1,'.lI'L'itC a:nOl:-

NInkCx 27, 1971 1 7 ing Act of 197o the Federal Trade Commission is pre- emhtea until 'Jul:Y i, 1971 f>om prohibiting ci-arette advcrtising or even from reziuiting that he:ltil~warn~ in~s be pllaiilly visibl'r in all ci garettc advert'ising;; thereafter, if the FTC wishcs to act in these respects,, it must ~i~~e Can,ress six months' notice of its inten- tlion to d'o-o. This preemption was in serteu in the Act tllrouUh t!he I rossure of tobacco industry lcbbvists, whocalCud.ItCd' t'+at anvsu,:h~ moves bv.'theFTC mght be forestsllc~' in Congress v.ith the hcih of tlle tobacco indust~ry and itscommerci :l and poliflical1 allhes. Even, if Such mo%.c ; ~ainst ci ,r ::e a d~,crtisihir- tb- the FTC , ,j were pern~itt,-d 1by Con~nc_.=-, tne c,io:ay,:ay of , aphrot matelv one ti~esrin cc~ntnoil.:rng or prolribiting cit-arcttc wou:d' ccrtainly have a contribu, tOr)". eHCCt C':', tlle sCCULE's.oi', t11Yi'l!`.711C~S Of hUi7lan f3talL- tiesthat occui in this eo,aiut'ryeac}k year isa result', ofeit'~lrette siOtC-1 1l~nll~I` :'ll:^' circumstances, it dOE9not seem to r,,ic that! the F l C isin al position to bring an effectlvec t_IY.1 tot}le systClnatlc promotion forr profit ofthis cleaaiy' IC-thatpro.:I:_t. ConseG,uently, 1 suggest that the problem of ci,,arette advertising be placed undcr the luri:,;l;ction not only of the FTC but also of the Food and Drug Administration, and that all cig, - arette adver.ti sin g in this country be banned under the provisions of the Federal' Hazardous Substances Act, which autlwri'. cs the FDA to ban or control the sale or promotion of substances that because of their toxic- ityy are haz:~:,ious to public health. The toxic sub- stances covrreCl by the terms of the Hazardous Sub- stances Act include those that~ are capable of causing harm to huln ins "through ihh alation." This deiini- tion fits ci'garett'esandci'g;iret~te smokingc3uii~te pre- cisely, and I Leiievethat ift1heTood and DrugAd.nan- i'htrat'ion does r:;ove promptly to place cigarettes d nd ciLarette smo3cin` under the provisions of' the Haz- ardous Subcl~.inccs Act for the purpose of brin;:i.c- , he pro.Ynotion of cigarettes under adequate fedcral m~ula- tIion, the Federal' Trade Commission would' then `also be able either to ban all cigarette advertising or to require that stiong health warnings be prominently di5played in tile cigarette advertising that is allowed.