Tobacco Documents Online

ldarsrord Cour:'int Aupust 6, 19'85' page 119, Tobacco Company Crusaders Try Weapon of `Courtesy' Ellfn Goodman Isn't it grand, fellow theater• lovers. At' last, the R.Ji Reynolds company, which has spent sb ~many years writing fiction into its tobac- co ads: has branched out tnto play writing . Its very first attempt ls a charming little vignette on the sub. ject of smoking, and courtesv, printed in the latest series of pua lic-irnage advertising. The script is available to any eager road'. company that would like to blow smoke in the eyes of the audience. But enough of this narration; the play is the thing. TAe curtaln in,the R.J. Reynolds theater opens after a bri+ef' explanation from the playwright ez- plaining his motives. Alas, alack and lackaday„we are told, "these days, the level of'so+cial discourse betr.eea smokers and nonsmokers is approaching that of a t;ag=team wrestling ttutcli:" Thus, we are abontto wtttmm a; scene embodying,a "daring solution: greater coartesy,:" Quiet in ~ tbe ! audi, eace; please: On tbrceoter stage are two main ic4sr- acters. (dne, a male saooker ib about'to light a cigarette in the presence of the other, a female nonsmoker. Here is the ex- cerpted dialogue: He:'°Ercuse me, do you mind if I3'smoke?„ Stie: "I don't mind as long, as you don't let your smoke blow fn my face." Rer"I'11 do my best. Let me know if the smoke bothers yott:" She: "I will andd thanks for asking."' He: 'Z'Banks for be- ing,so anderstattding;"' That's it The curtain, goes down to thunderous: The narrator ccncludes: "Common courtesy. It'f }ustcrazy, enough, It might work." liiow, mindi you, the, dialogue that I have quoted, above isn"t up for a Tony Awu,dl The stakes are much; much higher than that. The tobacco people ! are fighting for air space. The most common scenario of'realilife f.s not necessarily like the one tn Reynolds' road show. The, same encounter re-enacted in a number of Arneri- can the.aters tnay sound more like this: Smoker: "l?acxse me, do you mind if Iismoke?" I+ionsrnoker. "Yes, I do mihd."' The nonsmokers have stopped! believing, that they have to breathe in someone else's bad habits. Smoking, gradually;,ts becoming as socially aceept- able as spittang. We're running the Virginia Slims reel backM1Vard: The tobacco companieS, which do not fear lung cancer, empliysemal or hean disease, are positive- ly terrified of.social pressure: So the lbtesttheatri- cal gambit is to treat the assertive nonsmoker as a rabidJ rude radical. The tobacco people then as* sumc the starring role as the sweet voieeof reason, preaching "coexistence." The nonsmokers are to "understand." Well; forgive me for being rude, but "under- standing!'the smoker sharing your air rights is a bit like giving someone permission to step on your feet, or burn poison-Ivy incense. It's important to keep the characters straight: The smoker is the aggres- sor. Thenotumoker is the defender. But' back to ~ the courtesy charade. One of the great lines in this ad didn't even make the dialogue. It's a stage footnote: "We continue to believe in the power of polite- ness to change the world." Lord knows, so do I: Over the years, I ha9e tried thatcigatettes didn't cause lung cancer. Prettyy please. I have even, ever, so nicely, suggested I that they shou4d'stop selling a product that Is clearly;,ir- refutably,;, lethal. Pretty, pretty, please. 71o be ftank. I don't think It's civil to seil i lung cancer. Nor is it' courte- ous to produce heart dis- ease. It musL surely be Impolite to be responsible for S50;1)00 eiaarette-re- latedldeaths a year in the United' States. • I'd like to read a lit- tle play about people who push cigarettes all day and bow they sleep at night. I wonder If the R.J. Reynolds troupe could whip that one up for me: Maybe If Iasked tliem nicely. After all, we nonsmokers have to, watch our manners these days: I'll say, "Pretty„pretty, pleasre with sugar on top " Ellen Cood>'tcn wnfcs a synrlicoJrd column, from B,oston. (c) 1955, Washington Po t Writers Group, reprintediwitih permission P-1 asking the cigarette companies if they would, stop directiiig their advertising to young people. Please. I have asked them if they would stop pretending C