Tobacco Documents Online

• • GOAL #2: The Tobacco-Free America Legislative Clearinghouse wiii continue to provide tts services to the field to assist in the achievement of the goals that are essential to attaining the objectives of the Countdown 2000 Blueprint for Success. • Develop a national, uniform, multi-tiered, interactive communications and distribution network in conjunction with the ACS, AHA, ALA national government relations/public affairs offices and other systems whose design is consistent with the goals articulated in the Blueprint for Success. • Provide strategic planning counseling support services that Includes a team of experts in tobacco-control strategies, similar to a SWAT team, who are available to travel to states and localities that require immediate strategic support to kill or pass a measure. • Provide training for staff and volunteers in tobacco-control advocacy skills, lobbying techniques, media relations and coalition management. • Develop resource materials, including policy research and guidebooks. Compile case studies that provide detailed accounts of major tobacco-control campaigns - successes and failures - and lessons learned from those campaigns that may be applied elsewhere; efficacy studies of existing laws. ix

• • Targeted Populations: Youth, Minorities, Women and the Educationally Disadvantaged GOAL: It is a primary goal of Tobacco-Free America to decrease or deter consumption of tobacco products by groups of individuals targeted by the tobacco industry. RATIONALE: Tobacco use by youth, minorities, women and the educatfonaify disadvantaged continues at higher rates than other segments of the population. The tobacco industry has long targeted youth, minorities, women and the educationally disadvantaged with advertising campaigns. The industry spends massive amounts of money to sponsor community and sporting events traditionally attended by these target groups. And, the industry places Its tobacco advertisements in locations that will maximize exposure to these specific groups. In fact, the media has featured many examples of such targeted 'philanthropy and promotion. In April 1990, the Washington Post reported that RJR Nabisco contributed $30 million for 'innovative education programs" to schools across the country, including $1.2 million to two schools In Washington, DC. At around the same time, Philip Morris contributed $1 million to District of Columbia public schools. An Arlington, Virginia woman wrote the following to the Post: The companies are desperate to develop new clients, since so many of their old ones have either quit or died young. This is only the latest in a series of calculated efforts to lure youngsters to smoke through careful public image building. Added a District of Columbia man, That's a great ethics lesson the District [of Columbia] has presented to the young men and women in the Nation's capital city: take the money and run, regardless of the source or the strings attached. [If] Philip Morris really wanted to promote good health for the kids of Washington, it should have removed every sign and symbol of smoking - and any mention of its name - from its contribution and the programs that that contribution would fund. Reed V. Tuckson, M.D., former Commissioner of Public Health for the District of Columbia asks, Where do the cigarette companies go to find these new recruits for the death march to the land of profit and greed? To get not only to the children, but also the other vulnerable and oppressed segments of our country. They go to the people of color, to women and to the poor.... The tobacco industry is subjugating people of color through disease. in the spring of 1890, a black minister, the Rev. Calvin 0. Butts, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist • Church in New York City, became so upset with cigarette advertisements In nearby neighborhoods that he whitewashed billboards containing liquor and cigarette advertisements.targeted at blacks. Said Reverend Butts, 'fhe prevalence of alcohol and cigarette advertisements in...America's inner cities 1

manifests the elastic ruthlessness of these companies' greed and proclivity to exploit the poor and disenfranchised peopie.' Facts & Figures Much of the concern for Industry targeting is tied to the increased rate of tobacco-related mortality and morbidity in certain segments of the population. For example, black men experience a 20 percent higher mortality rate from heart disease and 58 percent higher incidence of lung cancer than white men. Black women have a 50 percent higher mortality rate from heart disease than white women. Overall, blacks are 1.32 times more likely to die from malignant neoplasms, including lung cancer. They are 1.34 times more likely to die from diseases of the heart. Inexorably tied to these statistics is tobacco prevalence data. Prevalence differs when factored for race, sex and level of education. According to the National Health Interview Surveys, 28.8 percent of whites as opposed to 34 percent of blacks continued to smoke in 1987. Other studies show that Hispanic men smoke at even higher rates, as high as 40 percent. Although smaller percentages of women than men smoke (26.8 percent vs. 31.7 percent), the overall decline has been four times greater for maies over a 20-year period. By educational level, tobacco use is almost double for those with no more than a high school education when compared with college graduates. For blue collar and white collar workers, the prevalence disparity is 39.7 percent to 27.5 percent, respectively. Further, according to the Final Report of the 1989 Tobacco Use in America Conference - There also appear to be specific cigarette brand purchasing patterns within minority populations. Of those who smoke, 47 percent of Mexican-American men smoke Marlboro and 20 percent Winston; 30 percent of Mexican-American women smoke Marlboro, 20 percent Winston and 16 percent Salem. Use of menthol cigarettes Is very common among blacks, with 76 percent reporting that they smoke that type of cigarette. Such purchasing patterns are a result, in large part, of continued tobacco industry targeting of these groups. Early in 1990, R.J. Reynoids introduced a new product, called Uptown, clearly targeted to blacks. Said Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.,''At a time when our people desperately need the message of health promotion, Uptown's message is more disease, more suffering and more death.' cn 0 j rn ~ 0) 2

0- The test marketing of Uptown in Philadelphia was stopped only after a public uproar was led by a coalition of more than 40 groups and given greater credence by Sullivan's comments. While addressing a press conference in February 1990, Sullivan said - It is frightening to realize that studies have found that the younger the age at which one begins to smoke, the more likely that a person will become a long-term smoker and develop smoking-related diseases. In fact, 90 percent of smokers begin a cigarette addiction as children or adolescents. Advertisers [must] shun the temptation of this tainted money, stained by addiction, disease and death. Finally I call upon smokers and potential smokers - Including young people, women, minorities and blue-collar workers - to exercise good judgement and personal responsibility. The life you save may not only be your own but also the life of someone you love or maybe don't even know, who might passively breathe the deadly tobacco fumes. Tobacco Promotion In February 1990, R.J. Reynolds caused an uproar when the public learned that a new brand, Dakota, would be test marketed to young, poorly educated white women described by the cigarette manufacturer as 'virile femaies.' The preferred Dakota smoker was described by R.J. Reynolds as 'a woman with no education beyond high school, whose favorite television roles are 'Roseanne' and ~ evening soap opera 'bitches' and whose chief aspiration is to get married in her early 20s and spend her free time 'with her boyfriend doing whatever he is doing.'" The Women VS. Smoking Network, a coalition of women's groups based in Washington, DC, noted the parallels between Dakota and Uptown. According to a director of the group, Anne Marie O'Keefe, 'When you target for marketing you target for death." Tobacco industry product manipulation has included promotional efforts such as the marketing of the ill-fated 'smokeless cigarette," Premier, in 1988. The cigarette was advertised as providing The Cleaner Smoke.' Under intense public pressure, led by the Coalition on Smoking OR Health and other pro-health groups, the product was pulled off the market in late 1988. The Coalition had previously petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to investigate low-tar cigarettes, including Premier, in an attempt to expose their use as a drug delivery system. The Coalition argued that the tobacco companies' advertising was tantamount to a health claim. Tobacco companies frequently sponsor sporting events, Including bowling, skiing, speedboat racing, truck and tractor pulls, fishing, tennis (Virginia Slims circuit), stock car racing (Winston Cup), i soccer (Marlboro Cup) and horse racing (Marlboro Stakes). Although tobacco advertising is prohibited 3

on television, the strategic placement of tobacco product ads in baseball stadiums, hockey rinks and other sporting venues is quite visible when American families (and their children) watch TV. in early 1990, USA Today reported that tobacco company sponsorship of sports and culturai events amounted to $150 million in 1989, with about 70 percent spent on sports. Dr. Alan Blum, of Doctors Ought to Care, an outspoken critic of the tobacco industry and its advertising and promotional strategies, states, "You watch an auto race and you see cars going around tracks with cigarette logos. You watch tennis and you see the logos in the background. Truth is good, but juxtaposition Is better.' ~ States Joe Chemer, president of Smoke-Free Educational Services in New York City, 't have found that the average sixth-grade giri actually thinks women tennis players smoke. Jennifer Capriati plays Virginia Slims [tournamentsJ at 13 [years of age]. That means she is not old enough to smoke but she is old enough to be a walking billboard for a cigarette company." A recent Winston advertisement included a'900" number to call for sports scores. The brand was advertised as 'Your ticket to the best in sports.' Tuckson says, "The tobacco industry seeks to gain 'innocence by associaiion' through sponsorship of events. They attempt to make cigarette brand names synonymous with community events like the Ebony Fashion Fair, the Kool Jazz Festivals and Salsa Festivals In the Latino communiry.' Helen Munoz, of the National Coalition of Hispanic Health and Human Services Organizations, sheds further light on the subject. "Perhaps most disturbing of all.' she says, 'a study of 4th and 5th graders in Los Angeles revealed that Hispanic boys and girls are more likely to say they used cigarettes (than their non-Hispanic counterparts) and that Hispanic boys were six times as likely as their non- Hispanic white counterparts to be smokers.' Using such practices, the tobacco industry regularly violates its own 'woiuntary advertising and sampling code.' The code prohibits advertisements and sampling practices aimed at persons under the age of 21. For example, the industry also has resorted to 'couponing,' whereby cigarette smokers can send in coupons to redeem 'prizes' ranging from additional packages of cigarettes to compact discs. A recent giveaway promised a free pack of Alpine cigarettes. The only protection against minors participating was a disclaimer on the advertisement that "by accepting this offer you certify that you are a cn 0 -s m Y • 4

. smoker 21 years of age or oider.' R.J. Reynolds sponsored a'Millionaire Cash Quiz Game' whereby contestants were urged to submit ten or more correctly answered game tickets in order to win $2. The more packs smoked, the more money you could win. The industry also targets the economically disadvantaged and the young through the marketing of generic products. This sector of the market has risen dramatically in recent years and now holds a substantial market share. The tobacco industry also targets these groups with promotional giveaways of items such as hats, T-shirts and sporting equipment. These items are often distributed at areas of high concentrations of youth, such as sporting events, rock concerts and public beaches. Access & Distribution Most cigarette vending machines remain unsupervised, inviting purchase by youth. Free samples are distributed on street comers and at athletic and music events well-attended by those under 18 years of age. + By mid-1990, 45 states had minimum-age laws for the purchase of cigarettes. Yet, enforcement ' of these laws Is a serious problem. Most current licensing laws do not address the Issue of enforcing the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products. Officer Bruce R. Talbot of the Woodridge (IL) Police Department, testifying before Congress lri April 1990, described a new law passed in his hometown. He said he had - received complaints from teachers, parents and even the students themselves that Woodridge merchants are selling cigarettes to minors. On one occasion, a gym teacher observed a 13-year-old female student purchase a pack of Mariboros from a Mobil gasoline station just two blocks from the school. Woodridge...has reduced tobacco sales to minors from 83 percent to zero. But without this legislation our local efforts may have been for naught because the merchants whose stores border Woodridge continue to sell cigarettes to 13-year-old children 94 percent of the time. Philanthropy In 1989, the tobacco industry contributed millions of dollars to the National Archives to help promote the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. This action placed the Philip Morris name on millions of television sets for the first time since tobacco advertising was banned on television nearly 20 years ago. The ~ Coalition on Smoking OR Health called the campaign -- 5

a corporate image advertising blitz that was cleverly designed to wrap the tobacco company and, by implication, its marketing practices in the American flag and the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.... The so-called bill of rights campaign is not about freedom or good corporate citizenship. It Is intended to further the cigarette company's goal of continuing to market its products to children, minorities, women and blue-collar workers.... Tuckson points out that Philip Morris gave $2.4 million to the local chapters of 180 black, hispanic and women's groups in 1987. Says Tuckson, 'fhe United Negro College Fund received $267,000 from R.J. Reynolds, $120,000 from Philip Morris and $32,000 from Brown and Williamson. So they are telling the 18-year-olds going to college, 'We gave you all the money for your education, so you owe us access to your markets." Countdown 2000 Legislative & Regulatory Objectives Access to and Distribution of Tobacco Products Although the tobacco industry has developed its own 'Code of Cigarette Sampling Practices,' which details certain standards to be observed to avoid distributing cigarette samples to under-age children, reports of random spot-checking of sampling and distribution points prove that such restrictions are not being observed. Trials observing minors attempting to purchase cigarettes In Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Allentown, PA, Decatur, IL, Brookline, MA, Worcester, MA, New Brunswick, NJ and many other cities found that minors were able to purchase tobacco products more than 70 percent of the time. Countdown 2000 Objective: Achieve a ban on cigarette and tobacco product vending machines. As interim objectives, the following measures are acceptable public policy: • a ban on unsupervised vending machines and/or • a ban on multi-use vending machines. Note: Any state law enacted to limit access to tobacco product vending machines must also clearly recognize that the mere posting of signs is ineffective in deterring access by minors to tobacco products sold via vending machines. Additional Countdown 2000 objectives Include the following: • establish, as the standard, a minimum purchase age for tobacco products of 18 years of age; • adequate and meaningful penalties should be set for both retailer and minors; • require the licensing of retailers comparable to the licenses issued for the sale of alcoholic beverages. The use of the licensing fee could be applied toward the costs of enforcement and public education activity; 0 • . 6

• • ban the distribution of free or discounted samples; and • prohibit, via the mail system, access to tobacco products. Critical to any law that adequately addresses the problems of access to and distribution of tobacco products to young people is the enforcement of such laws and regulations. Careful attention must be paid to - • provision of adequate resources to state and local agencies charged with enforcement responsibilities, • authority to conduct random monitoring of restrictions on access and distribution of tobacco products to minors, and . • establishment of mechanisms to faciitate the reporting of citizen or other complaints to a designated office or department concerning violation of laws that restrict or prohibit the sale and/or distribution of tobacco products to minors. inspection responsibilities should be clearly delegated to such designated offices. Advertisina To curb advertising abuses by the tobacco industry, TFA recommends as a Countdown 2000 objective, enactment of state and local bans on advertising to the fullest extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution and not In violation of federal preemption law (Public Health Cigarette Act of 1969). Countdown 2000 Objective: As allowed by the U.S. Constitution and federal law, ban the advertising of tobacco products within each state. Specific objectives could be - • a ban on all billboard advertising and advertising on other public visual displays (scoreboards, etc.); • a ban on all advertising within state supported mass transit systems; and • a ban on all advertising in intrastate media. Note: There Is considerable case law distinguishing the power of the federal government under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution from the powers of the states over intrastate commerce. There is even a Supreme Court decision upholding a state's right to regulate billboard advertising. However, the federal preemption clause applies to advertising that addresses the relationship between smoking and health. Therefore, bans on billboard advertising must be Inclusive of all advertising. Promotion There is growing dependence by the tobacco industry on promotional activity to secure new smokers. This is especially true for youth, minorities, women and the educationally disadvantaged. 7

Countdown 2000 Objective: Ban tobacco product promotion to the fullest extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution, Including but not limited to product manipulation, sponsorship, pricing, give- aways (i.e.: T shirts, hats, etc.), coupons and product placement. An added objective could be - • funds raised through tobacco product excise taxes should be earmarked to support alternative sponsorship of community-related activities. Other Policy Considerations Much can be done through grassroots efforts to decrease or deter the consumption of tobacco products by youth. In the area of education and empowerment, TFA recommends that grassroots advocates consider the following additional activity: • network with the non-health based institutions (religious groups, youth clubs, social organizations and community groups) to foster education, and to ensure promotion of self- esteem; • seek mandatory comprehensive school education programs (K-12) that Include tobacco education, emphasizing that tobacco is an addictive gateway drug and that the tobacco Industry deliberately advertises and promotes cigarettes in ways that lure youth Into becoming addicted to their products; and • promote and encourage funding for counter-advertising and counter-promotion aimed at youth. For minorities, TFA has the following additional goals: • Increase the cultural and language relevancy of educational messages, and . Increase state funding for minority health programs to support programs to prevent tobacco use and to address tobacco use cessation. As a final action, TFA recommends support of applicable sections of federal legislation that would - . provide grants to states for activities that will prevent the initial use of tobacco products by minors, • encourage the cessation of the use of tobacco products among youth through prohibitions on the sale of tobacco products to minors, . improve the enforcement of existing provisions, • prohibit the sale of tobacco products in vending machines unless the presence of minors is not allowed on the premises where the machine is located, • promote and enforce a minimum age of at least 18 for the purchase of tobacco products, • enhance the ability of state health departments to implement comprehensive planning and Intervention activities for anti-tobacco use, and • provide education and training to teachers and health care professionals. . • • 8

• Conclusion As stated in the Final Report of the Tobacco Use in America Conference, held in Houston in January 1989 - Studies have shown a relationship between media dependence on tobacco advertising revenue and coverage of smoking and health topics. Tobacco sponsorship of organizations and events appear to discourage those organizations from speaking out and educating their constituents about smoking and health. Cigarette advertising and promotion also seem to affect and/or promote an atmosphere in which tobacco use is legitimate, even wholesome, and certainly acceptable.' We are dealing with an industry whose voluntary code states that 'cigarette advertising shall not suggest that smoking is essential to social prominence, distinction, success or sexual attraction.' State and local public policy makers must work within their constitutional and federal legislative constraints to regulate what the tobacco industry has obviously failed to do on its own. cn 0 ~ ~ ~ • (0 ~ . ~ U3 9