Tobacco Documents Online

YOUTH AND SMOKING PLAN (2/21/90) OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate corporate responsibility and convey to the public our conviction that smoking is an adult custom. STRATEGY: Take visible and positive steps to discourage cigarette sales to minors. This strategy consists of five key components: 1) Assist national and state organizations such as the National Association of Convenience Stores in developing a minimum age campaign to educate store-owners and their customers that a minimum age exists for lawful cigarette purchases. Publicize this activity widely. 2) Support publicly legislation to raise legal age to 18 and restrict vending machines to areas of adult supervision. 3) Make a grant to an educational foundation or institution to develop a program designed to help youth make informed decisions about choices they face. 4) Take legal action over trademark infringement by candy, toy and video game manufacturers. Publicize this action. 5) Identify some marketing practices to avoid. ********~************************~***************************~**** MINIMUM AGE CAMPAIGN We have developed a campaign for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) which is designed to prevent unlawful cigarette sales through signage, stickers and pamphlets. The campaign is designed to educate store owners and their customers regarding a state's minimum age laws. The material will aid store owners in developing a policy to verify a customer's age, and will indicate to customers that the establishment is intent upon adhering to state law. NACS will make these campaign materials available to store owners through periodic announcements in its trade publications. Similar campaigns can be developed for the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association of Wholesale Grocers and the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA). The NAMA campaign can include provisions that vending machines only be placed in areas subject to adult supervision.

- 2 - SUPPORT MINIMUM AGE Six states (KY, LA, MO, MT, NM and WY) do not have minimum age laws. In Washington, DC, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the minimum age for cigarette purchases is 16. In four states (DE, GA, NC and VT) the minimum age is 17. In Alabama, Alaska and Utah, the minimum purchase age is 19. In the remaining 35 states, the minimum age is 18. As part of a government affairs strategy, we will support bills to: o Establish a minimum age of 18 in the six states with no requirement; o Increase the age to eighteen in those states where the minimum age is less than that; o Strengthen penalties against minors who purchase and those who cause minors to acquire cigarettes, and against sellers who transgress the law, and bolster enforcement; o Make statutory the industry's sampling code; o Limit the placement of vending machines only to areas under adult supervision. Efforts such as these significantly enhance our relationships with legislators by giving them something to fight for, rather than against. It also puts the antis on the defensive and forces them to expend their resources fighting our agenda, rather than pursuing their own. Furthermore, the goodwill gained in these efforts will help us in other legislative battles. GRANTS TO EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION In 1986 and 1987, the Tobacco Institute helped the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) publish two pamphlets, "Helping Youth Say No" and "Helping Youth Decide." These materials assist parents in giving their children the tools necessary to make responsible decisions about a host of issues. We envision making a grant to NASBE or similar organizations to develop programs which reiterate the above theme. MARKETING PRACTICES With the assistance of marketing, we will examine our practices to identify those where there may be the mere appearance (to some) of impropriety with respect to youth. For instance, product tie-ins and give-aways involving sunglasses, t-shirts, baseball caps/visors, gym shorts, walkman radios, frisbees and beach towels may be things we can forgo.

- 3 - LITIGATION we plan to vigorously pursue those manufacturers of toys, video games and candy goods packaged in the likeness of our products. We may also solicit the creation of written policies from the associations of manufacturers discouraging this kind of product. * * * THE MEDIA: CONVEYING THE MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC As a matter of long-standing policy, the.tobacco industry has maintained that smoking is an adult custom and that children should not smoke. This is not a health issue. Our message consistently has been, and will continue to be, that our society has determined that a number of activities demand a certain level of maturity in order to partake and perform responsibly. Voting is one. Smoking is another. The preceding five elements form a "Corporate Responsibility Program" much of which we can discuss and document to the media when necessary. If need be, we can package this as some way to distribute information about the program to journalists who focus on this issue. YOUTH