Tobacco Documents Online

- 7 - . . t (UISUAL SHOWS PERCENTAGE OF SMOKERS BEFORE AGE 20) ANNOUNCER: Fact: Ninety percent of alL smokers start before age 20. COLLINS: Joining us now by satellite from Washington D.C. is Thomas Lauria of the Tobacco Institute, and I might add also that Deirdre Connolly is not part of this segment because the Tobacco Industry's policy is to avoid discussing the issue with children. Am I correct about that Mr. Lauria? THOMAS LAURIA (Spokesperson - The Tobacco Institute): That's correct. We have gone out of our way since 1963 to establish guidelines for our marketing and our presence in the economy so that we are not even perceived as delivering messages to under age individuals. COLLINS: And, yet, with so many youngsters smoking how can yo:: ignore that? LAURIA: Because what an actor or producer or director or writer chooses to do in the context of their work is completely divorced from the people that manufacture cigarettes. GORDON,:. But the reality -- wouldn't it contribute to the reality of this if we admitted that a discussion between the tobacco industry and teenagers might help? It might help. LAi7RIA: Well, actually, we have found that the most effective way to address teen smoking -- this is a problem that I think everyone involved in this program right now shares. We have been concerned about teen smoking for a while ever since it was elevated'to the social problem that it is now. We're gratified that, for example, the Center for Disease Control now reports teen smoking in America is at an all-time low; about 12.7%. It's still too high, but that's a great deal lower than the 26% it was in the mid-`7©s. COLLINS: How does that relate to the overall population, N Mr. Lauria, in terms of smoking? 0, N LAURIA: Well, smoking has been declining since 1964 by G~ two to three percentage points of market share a year. Right now ti3 approximately 26% of adults smoke. N W COLLINS: Do you smoke, sir? ~ LAURIA: No I don't, Gary. ~

8 COLLINS: Ever smoke? LAURIA: : experimented with it. As a kid, I didn't like it, and it wasn't something that I chose to continue doing. COLLINS: I started when I was nine years old. It took me 40 years to get over it, and I started because my mother smoked, my aunt smoked, my grandmother smoked, and every movie I went to see people smoked, and when I look at these ads, you know, I don't think you have a lot of luck g,etting,30 year olds and 4& year olds to smoke. But, boy, if you're young and impressionable, these ads. GORDON: Well, that' s the point of the tobacco indtistry' s camcaign, Gary, is that they know that they have to create an atmosphere where smoking,is cool. LAURIA: No. Why are you answering my question for me? GORDON: Excuse me. LAURIA: Excuse me. Tobacco advertising does not increase market share. In fact, it just encourages smokers who already smoke to either stay with their brand or switch~brands if they choose to still smoke. In fact, we've looked at international smoking bands, and, basically, what your other guests want to do is ban c,.garette advertising even though there are constitutional protections that anyone who's involved in a commercial speech wants to see maintained.. We've looked at the 16 countries around the world that have banned cigarette advertising. Some since 1971, and in not one of those 16 countries can we demonstrate a lowering of tobacco consumption by young people. GORDON: The banning of cigarette smoking... LAURIA: So, there isn't a linkage. GORDON: There's still promotion of cigarette smoking. As you know, in the countries that you lists, Taiwan, Thailand, and others, even though cigarette smoking -- even though advertising is banned, promotion is not banned. Cigarettes are handed out at rock concerts. Cigarettes are handed out at high schools. Cigarettes are promoted like crazy.. LAURIA: But, we're talking about the American market. GORDON: Absolutely. LAURIA: In terms of what you're criticizing, and the American market has 25 years of warning labels in place, has: enormous school education programs. You can't possible go to grade

9 - school ^r high school in California and not have anti-smoking classes tavQht to you from the beginning... COLLINS: Alrig,ht. Mr. Lauria? LAURIA: Furthermore, the U.S. government itself, through the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services says the principle reason why our young people smoke is because of peer pressure and parental and family influences. It's i:ke Gary mentioned he felt 40 years ago. GORDON: And nobody disagrees with that. Except that... LAURIA: And, so what we do to make sure that parents get the r:g^t message on that is that we have created since 1986 a series of programs, excuse me, brochures and literature that help parents address peer pressure, because if they can do that, they can keep t:.eir kids away from cigarettes and alcohol and other things. COLLINS: Mr. Lauria? Are you telling me that the incred_bie increase in Marlboro usage and the usage of Camel -- the Joe Camel ads, for example, I'm sure has to be in some part respor.sible for that incredible increase from 6 million to almost a 500 million dollar revenue attributed to youngsters... LAURIA: Oh yeah, but in that theory, first of all... GORDON: It must come from more than a bunch of kids sitting around and saying let's go have a smoke. LAURIA: No, but, in fact, let's look at the economic reality of it. Camel's market share is flat, and when anti-smokers come to you saying that they've got these studies about dollar figures that the cigarette companies have made off of kids, please take that with a whole bag of salt, because, frankly, Camel's market share is flat, and young people... COLLINS: Alright. When you say it's flat, flat from where? Where is it now and where was it in 1987? LAURIA: About 8% of the total market. you think? COLLINS: Eight percent? That's pretty healthy, don't LAURIA: Well, it was -- Camel used to be the number one brand decades ago. It has shrunk considerably, but those people either who used to smoke Camel or either don't smoke them any more or they've switched to another brand. You know, three out of ten smokers quit every year. Excuse me. Three out ten smokers switch brands every year among those who still continue to smoke.

COLLINS: Do we have any proof, sir -- do we have any prraof, sir, that just saying d'on''t smoke works? LAURIA: I'm not sure that parents should take that approach. I think parents should be much more honest with their kid's about asking their children~ what kind of pressures they're feeling from their friends, where the influences are coming from, how to stand'up, have the self esteem to say that they don!t want to get involved in either drinking or smoking or whatever the peers are offering. CONNOLLY: Excuse me, Mr. Lauria? Are you~ familiar with the tobacco industry's pamphlet... COLLINS: We're going to have to wrap it up here. sorry, Deirdre. I'm CONNOLLY: OK. PURCELL: Yeah. COLLINS: We're out of time. But it is, four hundred . thousand people die every year.