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1. In 1998, tobacco settled lawsuits brought against it by 46 states through what is known as the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). In addition to requiring the 5 biggest companies- Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, Lorillard, and Liggett- to pay the states $246 billion over 25 years. The MSA placed severe marketing restrictions on tobacco and the tobacco industry. Tobacco can no longer be advertised on billboards or on free gear as was done with the Marlboro Miles and Camel Cash programs. Cigarette-makers had to promise not to target teens in any way and even had to fund the American Legacy Foundation- the organization that runs the truth media campaign. 2. In 1999, the first year after the settlement, tobacco advertising increased by the largest amount ever, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The companies spend a record $8.24 billion-$22.5 million a day- nearly $1 million an hour- to market their deadly product. They spent $9.6 billion in the year 2000 !! 3. Tobacco advertising in magazines like Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone has increased by 33% since the settlement. 4. 86% of youth (12-17) smokers prefer Marlboro, Camel and Newport- the three most heavily advertised brands. Marlboro, the most heavily advertised brand. 5. Marlboro, the most heavily advertised brand, constitutes almost 55% of the youth market but only about 35% of smokers over the age 25. |
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1. Tobacco kills almost 4,000,000 people worldwide every single year. That's one death every 8 seconds !! 2. By 2025, the World Health Organization expects the worldwide death toll to rise to 10,000,000 !! 3. In American alone, over 400,000 people die from tobacco related illnesses each and every year. That's 1,200 a day !! 4. If current trends continue, 377, 467 New York youth now under age 18 will die of tobacco-related illnesses !! 5. Tobacco kills more people than AIDS, murder, drugs, alcohol, suicide and car crashes combined !! 6. 3,000 teens start smoking every day, more that 1 million a year !! 7. More than 3 million kids age 12-17 are current smokers !! 8. 32% of New York high school students are current smokers !! 9. Roughly 1/3 of them will eventually die from smoking !! 10. Almost 90% of smokers started at or before age 18 !! 11. 73% of teen smokers who plan to quit are still smoking 5 years later !! 12. 18.7 million packs of cigarettes a year are illegally sold to New York youth !! |
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RJ Reynolds launched Joe Camel in 1988. 2 years later, the proportion of smokers under the age of 18 who smoked Camel's increased from 0.5% to 32%. Sales of Camel cigarettes to minors increased from $6 million to $476 million, accounting for 1/4 of all Camel sales and 1/3 of all illegal sales to minors. |
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1. "Today's teenager is tomorrow's potential regular customer…the smoking patterns of teenagers are particularly important to Philip Morris…" (1981 PM Report) 2. "If our company is to survive and prosper, over the long term we must get out share of the youth market…" (1973 Claude Teague, Assistant Chief of Research and Development, RJ Reynolds) 3. "If you are really and truly not going to see to children, you are going to be out of business in 30 years." (Bennett LeBow, Liggett/Brooke Group, Ltd.) 4. Students are tremendously loyal. If you catch them, they'll stick with you like glue." (1950 Philip Morris Memo) 5. "We don't smoke them. We reserve that right for the young, the black, the poor and the stupid." (testimony of a former tobacco company executive) 6. "Young adult smokers are the only source of replacement smokers. If younger adults turn away from smoking, the industry must decline…" (1984 RJR Report) 7. It's a well known fact that teen-agers like sweet products. Honey might be considered." (1972 B&W marketing memo) |
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