Marketing
Tobacco
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Targeting
Targeting
Targeting
Targeting
countries
youth
women
minorities
consumers in developing
Targeting Youth: The Tobacco
Settlement
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1998 tobacco settlement
$100’s of millions in damages
• health costs paid by medicaid
• smoking related illnesses
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Marketing practices
• Focus on youth market
1. Targeting Youth
2. Cartoon characters
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1975 memo to RJ Reynolds Vice
President:
• “The Camel Brand must increase its
share of penetration among the 14-24
age group…which represents tomorrow’s
cigarette business”
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1973 memo, senior researcher:
• “If our company is to survive and
prosper, over the long term, we must
get our share of the youth market.”
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Other memos describe success of Joe
Camel in France and subsequent creation
of character in the U.S.
1986 memo noted how US Joe Camel
campaign would utilize “peer
acceptance/influence” to “motivate the
target audience to take up cigarettes.”
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RJ Reynolds had done research on brand
preference by 14 year olds
• Claimed was for planning, not marketing
• stated it never marketed to children
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Document indicated company marketed to
13 year olds
• Claimed was a typo
• should have said 18 year olds
Settlement
1.
2.
3.
Bans use of cartoons in advertising,
promotion, packaging or labeling
Prohibits targeting youth in
advertising, promotions, or
marketing
Bans industry actions aimed at
initiating, maintaining or increasing
youth smoking
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In 2000, marketing expenditures
increased by 42% to $9.6 billion
Most of increase was in retail store
marketing
Cigarette and smokeless tobacco brands
increased advertising in youth-oriented
magazines
• Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone
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2002, RJ Reynolds fined $20 million
for continuing to advertise in youthoriented magazines
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2004, Attorneys General sued Brown
& Williamson (Kool)
• “Kool MIXX 2004” promotion
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Focus on hip-hop music
Free interactive CD-Roms
Collectible bags, radios, lighters
Promotions appeared in
• Spin, Vibe, Rolling Stone
Flavored cigarettes
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Brown & Williamson recently introduced
• Caribbean Chill; Midnight Berry; Mocha Taboo;
Mintrigue
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B&W claims intent is to lure current
smokers from other menthol brands
Advertises in bars and clubs, magazines
like Playboy and Vanity Fair
• readership 85% adult
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Advocates claim virtually all new smokers
under 19
Brands aimed at smokers 21-30 will
influence 12-17 market
3. Outdoor advertising
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Bans all outdoor advertising, including:
• billboards, signs and placards in arenas,
stadiums, shopping malls and video
game arcades
Limits advertising outside retail
establishments to 14 square feet
Bans transit advertising of tobacco
products
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Advertising and promotions
increased in convenience stores and
other retail outlets
Two-for-one offers and other
enticements particularly effective
with kids because they
• have less disposable income than adults
• are more likely to be influenced by
promotional items in convenience stores
4. Tobacco merchandise
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Thirty percent of kids 12 to 17 years
old--both smokers and nonsmokers-owned at least one tobacco
promotional item
• T-shirts, backpacks, CD players
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Settlement banned distribution and
sale of apparel and merchandise with
brand-name logos
5. Product placement and
sponsorships
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Bans payments to promote tobacco
products in
• Movies
• television shows
• theater productions or live
performances
• live or recorded music performances
• videos and video games
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Prohibits brand name sponsorship of
• events with significant youth audience
• team sports
 football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer
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Prohibits sponsorship of events where paid
participants or contestants are underage
Limits tobacco companies to one brand
name sponsorship per year
Bans tobacco brand names for stadiums and
arenas
6. Free samples
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"Samples encourage experimentation
by providing minors with a risk-free
and cost-free way to satisfy their
curiosity"
Prohibits distribution of free samples
except in facility or enclosed area
where operator ensures no underage
person is present
7. Gifts based on purchases
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Bans gifts without proof of age
Targeting women
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Philip Morris began targeting women
and girls in 1968
• “You’ve come a long way baby”
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Six years later smoking initiation for
12-year old girls had increased 110%
Virginia Slims “Find your voice”
campaign suggested connection
between smoking and empowerment
and attractiveness
Dakota cigarettes
1.
While smoking was declining
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Link between income, education and
smoking
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rate among women was declining more
slowly
Rate among young women was actually
increasing
Smoking rates higher among low-income
groups and those with only high school
education
Half of female smokers age 18-24
smoked Marlboro
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Target market was “virile” young
females with low-to-moderate
incomes and modest educations
Profile of group:
• Entry-level job
• Spent free time at
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tractor pulls, hot rod shows, watching
television (especially Roseanne) and
going to dance clubs and bars
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Marketing plan called for
• Promoting male strip shows
• Giving away premiums:
 washable tattoos
 “hunk-oriented” calendars
 his-and-her interlocking beer
mugs
Targeting Minorities
Uptown cigarettes
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Menthol
Package designed to be opened from
bottom
Philadelphia was 40% black
Advertising was mainly in magazines and
on billboards
• Magazines were Ebony and Jet
• Billboards mainly in black neighborhoods
• Ads used African American models
1.
2.
Denied targeting African Americans
Targeted at current smokers
 thus no increase in health problems
3.
Patronizing and racist to assume
African-Americans couldn’t make
same adult decisions as any other
racial group
 i.e., whether to smoke and, if so,
which brand to smoke
Menthol X
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“It was just an X. Call us dense if
you want, but it [the connection
between the package and the film]
didn’t occur to us”
Targeting consumers in developing
countries
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Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
(FCTC)
Treaty initiated by World Health Association
(WHO)
Negotiations began in 1999
Objective:
• “to protect present and future generations
from the devastating health, social,
environmental and economic consequences of
tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco
smoke”
1.
2.
Comprehensive ban on tobacco
advertising, promotion and sponsorship
Prohibit misleading or deceptive terms
on packages
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3.
4.
“light”, “mild”, “low tar”
Implement effective measures to protect
nonsmokers from tobacco smoke in
public places
Implement health warning labels that
cover minimum 30% of principle display
area of each packet
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Treaty becomes international law
when ratified by 40 countries
As of April, 2004
• 102 countries had signed
• 9 countries ratified
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As of April, 2005
• 167 countries signed
• 55 countries ratified