Media Release

FOR: Immediate Release
DATE: December 22, 1998
CONTACT: John P. Fulton, Ph.D. 222-1394 (X115)

Philip Morris Launches Campaign that Promotes Industry Image
Health Experts Doubt Teen Messages Will Work

In the United States, more than a million kids are lured into starting smoking each year. So it raised concerns among health experts when tobacco giant, Philip Morris, recently launched a $100 million ad campaign claiming to prevent children from smoking. The campaign uses the theme "Think, don’t smoke."

When asked if she thought it would work, Dr. Patricia Nolan, Rhode Island Director of Health, replied "Not to stop kids smoking! In fact, it may have the opposite effect and may stall effective campaigns."

Health experts say that the campaign’s message won’t work for kids. Furthermore, Philip Morris is unlikely to use one that does. Ads that cut smoking, for example, portray tobacco executives as liars and smoking as a disgusting habit.

According to Jerie Jordan of the American Cancer Society, "The tobacco industry has a long history of implementing weak programs to address the serious problems of tobacco use." In a May 23, 1996 Washington Post article quoting internal tobacco industry documents, the Tobacco Institute’s Executive Vice President, Franklin Dryden, proposed a "pre-adult education" program. He said "It seems to me our objective is… a ‘media event’ which in itself promises a lot but produces little." This is not the first time that the industry proposed youth education campaigns to preempt more effective ones. Similarly, recent attempts by the tobacco industry to prevent retailers from selling cigarettes to kids are feeble.

"So what did we expect?" said Dr. Nolan. "The tobacco industry relentlessly recruits kids as replacement smokers—3000 each day."

The American Lung Association and the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids question the sincerity of the Philip Morris ads. "These ads don’t warn kids that tobacco is a deadly and addictive drug," said Margaret Kane, from the American Lung Association of Rhode Island. "They don’t show young adults dying from the cigarette habit they picked up as kids." Added Jennifer Mansfield of the American Heart Association, New England Affiliate, "If Philip Morris really wanted to prevent kids from smoking, they would stop marketing cigarettes to kids. The Marlboro man would come down. Cigarettes wouldn’t be sold at kids’ eye level in corner stores."

It is easy to question Philip Morris’ sincerity about preventing kids from smoking for other reasons. Last summer they spent $30 million on ads to defeat legislation introduced by Senator McCain which established a comprehensive, national policy to reduce youth tobacco use. The tobacco industry still denies that cigarettes are addictive.

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