The History of Tobacco Part IV

by Gene Borio

The Seventies to the Present

Cigarettes are the most heavily advertised product in America
Magazines and newspapers stop covering the issue in depth

• 1970: BUSINESS: MARKET SHARE: American Tobacco's share of the US market has fallen to 19%.

• 1970: BRAND CONSUMPTION:

• 1970: BUSINESS: RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. becomes a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.
• 1970-03: INDUSTRY RESEARCH: "The Mouse House Massacre" A major research project on smoking and emphysema is dismantled. Former scientist Joseph E. Bumgarner told in a deposition how he and 25 other members of Reynolds' biological research division in Winston-Salem, N.C., were abruptly ordered to surrender their notebooks to the company's legal department and then were fired. .
• 1970: INDUSTRY RESEARCH: Roper Researchers tell Philip Morris, True answers on smoking habits might be difficult to elicit in the presence of parents. . . We recommend interviewing young people at summer recreation centers (at beaches, public pools, lakes, etc.)
• 1970 (approx): INDUSTRY RESEARCH: Philip Morris purchases the Institut fur Industrielle und Biologische Forschung GmbH, or INBIFO, a biological research facility in Cologne, Germany.
• 1970-04-01: LEGISLATION: Stronger mandatory cigarette label is required. Label is changed to read, "Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health."
• 1970-12: RESEARCH: RJR closes down its "mouse house" facility in Winston-Salem, NC..
• 1971: 5TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1971: BUSINESS: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco becomes R.J. Reynolds Industries
• 1971-01-02: REGULATION: TV: Cigarette ads are taken off TV and radio as Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969 takes effect. Broadcast industry loses c. $220 Million in ads (Ad Age, "History of TV Advertising")
• 1971: United Airlines introduces seperate sections for smokers and nonsmokers
• 1971: SPORTS: RJR sponsorship of NASCAR's Winston Cup Series begins.
• 1971: SPORTS: Virginia Slims Tennis begins.
• 1971-04: Cigarette manufacturers agree to put health warnings on advertisements. This agreement is later made into law.
• 1971: UK: Second British Royal College of Physicians of London Report: Smoking and Health Now Refers to cigarette death toll as "this present holocaust."
• 1971: UK: Cigarette Smoking and Health--Report by an Interdepartmental Group of Officials finds that, all things considered, tobacco use brings in more money than it costs in health and disability. Report is unknown to the public until the Guardian publishes an account on May 6, 1980.
• 1972: 6TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1972: HEALTH: ETS: Surgeon General's Report addresses first study of "public exposure to air pollution from tobacco smoke"
• 1972: LEGISLATION: Tobacco advertisements are required to carry health warnings
• 1972: BUSINESS: Marlboro becomes the best-selling cigarette in the world
• 1972: BUSINESS: Marlboro Lights introduced
• 1972-05: BUSINESS: Tobacco Institute memorandum from Fred Panzer (VP) to TI President Horace R. Kornegay, Panzer describes the industry's strategy for defending itself in litigation, politics, and public opinion as "brilliantly conceived and executed over the years" in order to "cast doubt about the health charge" by using "variations on the theme that, `the case is not proved.'" The memorandum urges more intensive lobbying, and advocates public relations efforts to provide tobacco industry sympathizers with evidence "that smoking may not be the causal factor [in disease]." Until now, the industry has supplied symmpathizers with "too little in the way of ready-made credible alternatives."
• 1972-05:24: BUSINESS: SECRETS: PM scientist Al Udow writes memo stating that rival brand Kool had the highest nicotine "delivery" of any king-size on the market. "This ties in with the information we have from focus group sessions and other sources that suggest that Kool is considered to be good for 'after marijuana' to maintain the 'high' or for mixing with marijuana, or 'instead." He wrote that Kool's high nicotine is a reason for its success, and that "we should pursue this thought in developing a menthol entry. . . The lessened taste resulting from the lowered tar can be masked by high menthol or other flavors. Many menthol smokers say they are not looking for high tobacco taste anyway. . . A widely held theory holds that most people smoke for the narcotic effect (relaxing, sedative) that comes from the nicotine. The 'taste comes from the 'tar' (particulate matter) delivery. . . . Although more people talk about 'taste,' it is likely that greater numbers smoke for the narcotic value that comes from the nicotine."

• 1973: 7TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking 1973 Finds cigar and pipe smokers' health risks to be less than cigarette smokers, but more than nonsmokers.
• 1973: Civil Aeronautics Board requires all airlines to create nonsmoking sections. This is the first federal restriction on smoking in public places.
• 1973: Arizona becomes the first state (in modern times) to pass a comprehensive law restricting smoking in public places.
• 1973: SPORTS: Marlboro Cup horse racing begins.
• 1973: SPORTS: Tennis' "Battle of the Sexes." Billie Jean King, wearing Virginia Slims colors, and Virginia Slims sequins on her chest, defeats Bobby Riggs..
• 1973: SCIENCE: RJR report on success of PM's Marlboro and B&W's Kool brands states, "A cigarette is a system for delivery of nicotine to the smoker in attractive, useful form. At normal smoke pH, at or below 6.0, the smoke nicotine is...slowly absorbed by the smoker. . . As the smoke pH increases above about 6.0, an increasing portion of the total smoke nicotine occurs in free form, which is rapidly absorbed by the smoker and...instantly perceived as a nicotine kick."
• 1973-07-12: BUSINESS: RJR director of marketing and planning R.A. Blevins Jr writes in a memo that free nicotine, advertising expenditures and cigarette size of Winstons and Marlboros all affected market share "independently and collectively," but that "the variability due to 'free nicotine' was significant and its contribution was over and above that of advertising expenditures and [cigarette size]."
• 1973-07-12: BUSINESS: RJR senior scientist Frank Colby sends Blevins a memo suggesting that the company "develop a new RJR youth-appeal brand based on the concept of going back--at least halfway--to the technological design of the Winston and other filter cigarettes of the 1950s," a cigarette which "delivered more 'enjoyment' or 'kicks' (nicotine)." Colby said that "for public relations reasons it would be impossible to go back all the way to the 1955-type cigarettes."

• 1974: 8TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking 1974
• 1974-01-07: Monticello, Minnesota decides to go non-smoking for a day, in a "D-Day" organized by Lynn Smith. The event goes statewide in November, and in 1977 goes national--the first Great American Smokeout.
• 1974: SPORTS: UST creates the Copenhagen Skoal Scholarship Awards Program for student athletes (in conjunction with the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Assn.)
• 1974: LITIGATION: Rose Cipollone, now 49, switches to True cigarettes.
• 1974: ADVERTISING: Joe Camel is born. Used in Poster for French ad campaign for Camel cigarettes.
• 1974: INDUSTRY RESEARCH: Harrogate lab in England is closed down.
• 1974: INDUSTRY RESEARCH: PM pollsters try to find out why competing brands like Kool were slowing Marlboro's growth among young smokers.
• 1974: CANADA: The Canadian Council on Smoking and Health is formed. Charter members include the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Heart Foundation, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Lung Association. The Non-Smokers' Rights Association is also formed. (NCTH)
• 1974: US Trade Act. The threat of punitive tariffs, as provided under Section 301, will be used to force Asian markets considered to have "unfair" or "discriminatory" trade restrictions to open up to U.S. tobacco companies' products and advertising. .

• 1975: 9TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking 1975
• 1975. Military stops distribution of free cigarettes in rations.
• 1975. BUSINESS: American Brands assumes control of Britain's Gallaher's
• 1975: BUSINESS: PM's Marlboro overtakes Winston as the best-selling cigarette in the U.S.
• 1975-08-01: MINNESOTA Clean Indoor Air Act, the nation's first statewide anti-second-hand smoke law goes into effect to protect "the public health and comfort and the environment by prohibiting smoking in public places and at public meetings, except in designated smoking areas." It is the first law to require separation of smokers' and nonsmokers.

• 1976: 10TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking: Selected Chapters from 1971 through 1975 Reports
• 1976: LITIGATION: Norma Broin, a 20-year-old non-smoking Mormon, gets a job as a flight attendant for American Airlines (Broin vs. Philip Morris, et.al.)
• 1976: SOCIETY: Formation of the Cigarette Pack Collectors Association and first of its conventions. (LB)
• 1976: LITIGATION: Donna Shimp sues New Jersey Bell Telephone for not protecting her from second-hand smoke. Ruling in her favor, the judge said, "if such rules are established for machines, I see no reason why they should not be held in force for humans."
• 1976: TV: Death in the West--The Marlboro Story made by Thames Television
• 1976-07-23: UK: BUSINESS: BAT Industries is formed when Tobacco Securities Trust Company Limited (TST) merges with British-American Tobacco Company Limited (BATCo).
• 1976: SOCIETY: The Tobacco Institute provided funds to the Smithsonian Institute for the creation of a one-tenth scale model of the colonial ship Brilliant. The first cargo carried by the Brilliant was tobacco in 1775. (LB)

• 1977: 1st Great American Smokeout
• 1977: UK: Royal College of Physicians of London third report: "Smoking or Health."

• 1978: 11TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking, 1977-1978
• 1978: A Roper Report prepared for the Tobacco Institute concludes that the nonsmokers' rights movement is "the most dangerous development to the viability of the tobacco industry that has yet occurred."
• 1978: BUSINESS: Philip Morris obtains the international cigarette business of the Liggett Group Inc. and also takes on the Seven-Up Company,
• 1978: USA: A tobacco trade journal reports that "cigarette purchases are 2.5 times as great when an in-store display is present compared to when no advertising or display treatment is employed", and that cigarette sales drop when parents shop with their children. (Tobacco International, 22 Dec 1978, p. 33). (LB)

• 1979: 12TH Surgeon General's Report: Smoking and Health: A Report of the Surgeon GeneralDr Julius B. Richmond, first reviews health risks of smokeless tobacco.
• 1979: REGULATION: Minneapolis and St. Paul become the first U.S. cities to ban the distribution of free cigarette samples. (Dan Freeborn, MN Star-Tribune)
• 1979-01: ADVERTISING: Mother Jones magazine publishes "Why Dick Can't Stop Smoking." According to MoJo in 1996, As a professional courtesy, Mother Jones gave tobacco manufacturers advance notice of the cover story so they could pull their ads from the issue. Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, and others responded by canceling their entire commitment: several years' worth of cigarette ads. In a show of corporate solidarity, many liquor companies followed suit.
• 1979: ADVERTISING: Tobacco Institute launches ad campaign against nonsmokers'-rights movement.
• 1979: BUSINESS: MARKET SHARE:

•Filter cigarettes account for 90% of U.S. cigarette sales •#4: American Tobacco's share of the US market has fallen to 11%. Only half ATC's cigarette volume have filters •

• 1979: BUSINESS: Top 20 Brands Sold:

Source: Business Week December 17,1979.

The Eighties

• 1980: 13TH Surgeon General's ReporT: The Health Consequences of Smoking for Women: A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1980: LITIGATION: Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation v. Public Service Commission of New York. US Supreme Court sets guidleines for the regulation of commercial speech:

•1. For an ad to be protected by the First Amendment, the advertsing must be lawful, and not misleading •2. Given that, for an ad to be banned, the state's interest must be "substantial;" •3. The ban must "directly advance" the state's interest; and •4. The ban must be no more extensive than necessary to further the state's interest
• 1981: 14TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking - The Changing Cigarette: A Report of the Surgeon General .
• 1981: CONSUMPTION: Annual consumption peaks at 640 billion cigarettes, 60% of which are low-tar brands. .
• 1981: LITIGATION: Rose Cipollone loses a lobe of her right lung to cancer; continues to smoke cigarettes.
• 1981: LITIGATION: CBS Chicago news commentator Walter Jacobsen accuses Brown & Williamson of engaging in a lurid advertising campaign to get young people to smoke.
• 1980: BUSINESS: MARKET SHARE: American Tobacco's share of the US market has fallen to 11%.
• 1980: ENTERTAINMENT: Superman II: Lois Lane lights up. In fifty years of comic book appearnces, Lois Lane never smoked. For a reported payment of $42,000, the company purchases 22 exposures of the Marlboro logo in the movie featuring the children's comic book hero, and Lois Lane, strong role model for teenage girls, gets a Marlboro pack on her desk and begins chain smoking Marlboro Lights. At one point in the film, a character is tossed into a van with a large Marlboro sign on its side, and in the climactic scene the superhero battles amid a maze of Marlboro billboards before zooming off in triumph, leaving in his wake a solitary taxi with a Marloro sign on top. The New York State Journal of Medicine published an article titled "Superman and the Marlboro Woman: The Lungs of Lois Lane." Thoughout the 80s, "Superman II" is frequently re-run on TV in prime time.

• 1981: BUSINESS: Hamish Maxwell, 57, becomes CEO of Philip Morris (1981-1991), succeeding George Weissman
• 1981: Insurance companies begin offering discounts for nonsmokers on life insurance premiums
• 1981: Stanton Glantz at UCSF receives a copy of "Death in the West"
• 1981: INDUSTRY RESEARCH: 1981 PM study investigates the link between pricing and smoking levels
• 1982: 15TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking - Cancer: A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1982: BUSINESS: Harrods' (department store) name goes on a a cigarette; this is one of the first instances of tobacco companies "renting names" of other companies (See "Harley Davidson" cigarettes) (LB).
• 1982: HEALTH: Surgeon General's Report (Koop) finds possibility that second-hand smoke may cause lung cancer.
• 1982: LITIGATION: Rose Cipollone loses her right lung to cancer; continues to sneak cigarettes.
• 1982: LEGISLATION: Congress passes the No Net Cost Tobacco Program Act, requiring the government's Commodity Credit Corporation, which pays for the government tobacco purchases, to recover all the money it spends on the price-support program. Now taxpayers no longer pay for losses incurred by the program, though they still pay about $16 million a year in administrative costs to run it

• 1983: 16TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking: Cardiovascualr Disease; A report of the Surgeon General Cites smoking as a major cause of coronary heart disease
• 1983: LITIGATION: Cipollone suit filed; Rose finally quits smoking.
• 1983: REGULATION: San Francisco passes first strong workplace smoking restrictions, banning smoking in private workplaces
• 1983-06-06: MEDIA: Newsweek runs a 4 page article, "Showdown on Smoking" on the nonsmokers' rights movement. Issues before & after carried 7-10 pages of cigarette ads. The June 6 issue carried none. Estimated loss of revenue as a result of publishing the article: $1 million. --Larry C. White, "Merchants of Death."
• 1983: BUSINESS: Philip Morris overtakes RJR to become the #1 tobacco co. in the US in sales.
• 1983: USA: BUSINESS: The creative director of a New York advertising agency spoke of working on tobacco advertisements, "We were trying very hard to influence kids who were 14 to start smoking". (Medical J of Australia, 5 March 1983, p.237). (LB)
• 1984: 17TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking: Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease, A Report of the Surgeon General Cites smoking as a major cause of chronic obstructive lung disease.
• 1984: The Advocacy Institute, which pioneered the use of electronic media for tobacco control advocacy through the creation of the Smoking Control Advocacy Resource (SCARCNet), is founded
• 1984: CESSATION: FDA approves nicotine gum as a "new drug" and quit-smoking aid
• 1984: LITIGATION: Rose Cipollone dies of lung cancer at 58.
• 1984: REGULATION: Tobacco industry is required to turn over a general list of cigarette additives annually to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Smoking and Health. The List is then locked in a safe. Disclosure to any other party is a crime. OSH allowed to study the list, but lacks funds.
• 1984: SPORTS: Champion Diver Greg Louganis almost represents American Cancer Society at Olympics
• 1984-03: MEDIA: The Saturday Evening Post stops accepting tobacco advertising. The Post's publisher is Cory SerVaas, MD.
• 1984-04-15: BUSINESS: RESEARCH: Another "Mouse House Massacre" The Philip Morris labs at which nicotine researchers Victor DeNoble and Paul Mele worked are abruptly shut down.
• 1985: 18TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking - Cancer and Chronic Lung Disease in the Workplace: A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1985: HEALTH: Lung cancer surpasses breast cancer as #1 killer of women.
• 1985: Stanford MBA student Joe Tye's 5 year old daughter becomes so delighted with a Marlboro billboard, she begins squealing with delight and says, "Look Daddy, horses!" Tye later founds STAT (Stop Teenage Addiction to Tobacco).
• 1985: LITIGATION: Brown & Williamson sues CBS and Chicago news commentator Walter Jacobsen for libel for his 1981 commentary. B&W wins a $3.05 million verdict--the largest libel award ever paid by a news organization.
• 1985: BUSINESS: Philip Morris buys food and coffee giant General Foods (Post's cereal, Jell-O, Maxwell House Coffee for $5.6 billion.
• 1985: BUSINESS: Philip Morris buys food and coffee giant General Foods (Post's cereal, Jell-O, Maxwell House Coffee for $5.6 billion.
• 1985: BUSINESS: Philip Morris begins publishing Philip Morris Magazine (1985-1992)
• 1985: BUSINESS: RJ Reynolds Industries buys food products company Nabisco Brands for $4.9B; renames itself RJR/Nabisco.. Ex-Standard Brands/Nabisco head Ross Johnson takes control of company.
• 1985: BUSINESS: A tobacco trade journal reports on the job of the tobacco "flavourist" and chemist. One job of the flavourist is to "ensure high satisfaction from an adequate level of nicotine per puff". One job of the chemist is "to ensure adequate levels of nicotine and tar in the smoke". (World Tobacco, March 1987, pp. 97-103).
• 1985-01-17: BUSINESS: B&W lawyer J. Kendrick Wells writes "Re: Document Retention" memo in reference to "removing the deadwood."
• 1985: SOCIETY: Ritz-Carlton Boston hosts a cigar-smoker private dinner party for 20 gentlemen. It soon becomes a regular event in Ritz-Carltons across the country..
• 1986: 19TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking, A Report of the Surgeon General (C. Everett Koop) finds smokeless tobacco to be cancer-causing, and addictive
• 1986: AUSTRALIA: LITIGATION: ETS: Leisel Sholem wins $50,000 in second-hand smoke suit, based on knowledge about ETS between 1975 and 1986.
• 1986: BUSINESS: RJ Reynolds Industries, Inc. becomes RJR Nabisco Inc.
• 1986: BUSINESS: Philip Morris sells off Seven-Up.
• 1986: BUSINESS: Ex-Philip Morris CEO George Weissman, begins reign as chairman of Lincoln Center (NYC).
• 1986: USA: The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress wrote a 19 page document titled "The proposed prohibition on advertising tobacco products: A constitutional analysis". It concluded that (a) commercial speech does not have the same protection under law as non-commercial speech, (b) Congress had the authority to regulate tobacco advertising and (c) Congress had the authority to completely prohibit tobacco advertising under the conditions set in the Central Hudson case and/or the Posadas case. (LB)
• 1986: UK: BUSINESS: Imperial Group is purchased by Hanson Trust PLC
• 1986: LITIGATION: U.S. Tobacco wins Sean Marsee trial in Oklahoma, the only smokeless-tobacco liability case ever tried.
• 1987: BANS: Congress bans smoking on domestic flights of less than two hours. Takes effect in 1988.
• 1987: BANS: Beverly Hills, CA and Aspen, CO ban smoking in restuarants
• 1987: Department of Health and Human Services goes smoke-free.
• 1987: ADVERTISING: Joe Camel's USA Debut. A North Carolina advertising agency uses Joe Camel to celebrate "Old Joe's" 75th anniversary.
• 1987: JAPAN: A tobacco trade journal reports on a group of Japanese "smoke lovers" who participated in a panel discussion on smoking. One panelist said, "The life expectancy of Japanese is said to be the world's longest now, and why must we be so timidly concerned about health? Let's enjoy life and smoking" (World Tobacco, Sept 87, p.18). (LB)
• 1987: JAPAN: The Tokyo Customs Office attributes the increase in cigarette imports to the permeation of promotional activities of the suppliers of foreign tobacco products. (World Tobacco, Sept 87, p.7).(LB)
• 1987: BUSINESS: Ross Johnson attempts a leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco.
• 1987: BUSINESS: Introduction of "Go to Hell" cigarettes. Each pack comes with two messages, first, "I like'em and I'm going to smoke'em", second, "Cheaper than psychiatry, better than a nervous breakdown". (Tobacco International, p.31). (LB)
• 1988: 20TH Surgeon General's Report: The Health Consequences of Smoking: Nicotine Addiction, A Report of the Surgeon General (C. Everett Koop) calls nicotine "a powerfully addicting drug." In 618-page summary of over 2,000 studies of nicotine and its effects on the body, Koop declares, "It is now clear that . . . cigarettes and other form of tobacco are addicting and that actions of nicotine provide the pharmacologic basic of tobacco addiction," .
• 1988: BUSINESS: Philip Morris report, "Smoking Among High School Seniors" suggests fewer youngsters were smoking in the early 1980s because participation in athletic programs was increasing.
• 1989: BUSINESS: RJR releases Premier, its smokeless cigarette, for test-marketing.
• 1988: BUSINESS: Philip Morris acquires Kraft, Inc. for $12.9 billion
• 1988: ADVERTISING: McCann-Erickson ad agency creates "Smooth Character" line for Joe Camel campaign.
• 1988-01-06: LITIGATION: Merrell Williams begins work for lawfirm Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs analyzing secret Brown & Williamson tobacco documents.
• 1988: LITIGATION: .Cipollone trial reveals "Motives and Incentives in Ciragette Smoking," a 1972 confidential report prepared by the Philip Morris Research Center of Richmond, Virginia. It reads in part, The cigarette should be conceived not as a product but as a package. The product is nicotine. . . . Think of the cigarette as a dispenser for a dose unit of nicotine. . . . Think of a puff of smoke as the vehicle of nicotine. . . . Smoke is beyond question the most optimized vehicle of nicotine and the cigarette the most optimized dispenser of smoke.
• 1988: LITIGATION: New Jersey Judge Lee H. Sarokin, presiding over the Cipollone trial, says he has found evidence of a conspiracy by 3 tobacco companies that is vast in its scope, devious in its purpose, and devastating in its results.
• 1988-04-07: CESSATION: First World No-Tobacco Day, sponsored by World Health Organization as part of WHO's 40th anniversary.
• 1988-06: LITIGATION: Liggett Group (L&M, Chesterfield) ordered to pay Antonio Cipollone $400,000 in compensatory damages for its contribution to his wife's death. In the years before the 1966 warning labels, Liggett found to have given Cipollone an express warranty its products were safe. First ever financial award in a liability suit against a tobacco company; award later overturned on technicality; plaintiffs, out of money, drop case
• 1988-Fall: BUSINESS: Ross Johnson informs RJR Nabisco board he intends to lead a management buy-out, and purchase the company for $17 billion. The ensuing debacle will become the largest LBO ever, with Henry Kravitz' KKR emerging the winner in 1989, paying a record $24.9 billion.
• 1988-11-17: Great American Smokeout; ex-Winston model David Goerlitz quits smoking after 24 years.
• 1988-12 to 1993-03:Jeffrey Wigand works at Brown & Williamson.
• 1988-89: CANADA: LEGISLATION: Federal laws are enacted to prohibit tobacco advertising and ensure smoke-free workplaces. Cigarette packs must carry one of four specified health warnings: "Smoking reduces life expectancy;" "Smoking is the major cause of lung cancer;" "Smoking is a major cause of heart disease;" or "Smoking during pregnancy can harm the baby." (NCTH)
• 1989: 21st Surgeon General's Report: Reducing the Health Consequences of Smoking, 25 Years of Progress, a Report of the Surgeon General
• 1989: , 1989
• 1989: ADVERTISING: Saatchi and Saatchi design Northwest Airlines' Smoke-free Skies campaign; RJ Reynolds withdraws its Oreo account, which Saatchi had had for 18 years.
• 1989: BUSINESS: Marlboro has 25% of the American market
• 1989: BUSINESS: RJR abandons Premier, its smokeless cigarette, after unsuccessful test-marketing in Arizona and Missouri.
• 1989: BUSINESS: KKR buys RJR Nabisco for $29.6B.
• 1989: CANADA: The government requires cigarette manufacturers to list the additives and amounts for each brand. RJ Reynolds temporarily withdraws its brands, and reformulates them so they are different from their US versions. Philip Morris withdraws its cigarettes from the Canadian market entirely.
• 1989: UAR: Dubai Islamic Bank in the United Arab Emirates has banned smoking by staff and customers because Islam forbids harming the body. (Reuters, 27 July 19189). (LB)

The Nineties
The Millenia Approaches
• 1990: 22nd Surgeon General's Report: Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation, A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1990: BRAND CONSUMPTION:

• 1990: LITIGATION: Mississippi jury rules that cigarettes killed Nathan Horton, but does not award damages, finding both Horton and American Tobacco shared culpability equally.
• 1990: Ben & Jerry's joins RJR/Nabisco boycott by dropping Oreo cookies from its ice cream.
• 1990: USA: Ellis Milan, president of the Retail Tobacco Distributors of America said, "President George Bush often talks of 1,000 points of light. I'd like to think those points of light are coming from the glowing ends of cigars, cigarettes and pipes across the country, and symbolize the cornerstone of this nation -- tobacco"(LB)
• 1990-01-01: Smoking is banned on all domestic flights of less than 6 hours, except to Alaska or Hawaii. Smoking is also banned on interstate buses.
• 1990: BUSINESS: The Uptown Fiasco. RJR begins test-marketing "Uptown" cigarettes targetting blacks. Health and Human Services secretary Louis Sullivan, along with many black civic and religious leaders denounce the cigarette. RJR cancels the cigarette.
• 1990-02: BUSINESS: Marketing firm Spector M. Marketors, under contract for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company developed plans to promote "Dakota" brand cigarettes to the "virile female," including 18- through 20-year-old women
• 1990-08-22: RUSSIA: Scores of angry smokers block street near Moscow's Red Square for hours in protest of summer-long cigarette shortage
• 1990: INDIA: A tobacco trade journal reports that India is selling its first cigarette specifically aimed at women, MS Special Filters, "the sort of market targeting that can get you pilloried in the US." (World Tobacco, March 1990, p. 11). (LB)
• 1990: PEOPLE: Philip Morris CEO Hamish Maxwell, a heavy smoker, undergoes quadruple bypass surgery.
• 1990: NYC Passes Tobacco Sampling Law. Prohibits giveaway or discounted distribution of tobacco products in public places and at public events. Exempts tobacco retailers in their stores and wholesalers or manufacturers.

• 1991: LITIGATION: Mildred Wiley, a nonsmoker, dies of lung cancer at 56. Her husband, Philip of Marion, Indiana, will bring a suit that in December, 1995 will be the first to establish second hand smoke as a workplace injury eligible for workers' compensation.
• 1991: LITIGATION: Grady Carter is diagnosed with lung cancer.
• 1991-02-07: AUSTRALIA: The AFCO Case: Federal court examines ETS studies, finds data valid
• 1991: ADVERTISING: Joe Camel's own line of merchandise is touted by RJR as bringing in $40 Million/year in advertising billings.
• 1991: ADVERTISING: JAMA publishes 2 noted studies of Joe Camel and kids:

•One finds that 91% of 6 year olds can match Joe Camel to his product (cigarettes), and is as recognized by preschoolers as Mickey Mouse •The other study, by Joe DiFranza, finds that since the inception of the Joe Camel campaign in 1987, Camel's share of the under-18 market had risen from 0.5% to 32.8%.

• 1991: ADVERTISING: Saatchi and Saatchi unit Campbell Mithun tests a campaign for Kool that featured a cartoon smoking penguin wearing shades, a buzzcut and Day-Glo sneakers.
• 1991: BRITAIN: The British government will no longer provide financial aid to tobacco companies in developing countries. (AP, 9 Feb 1991). (LB)
• 1991: BUSINESS: Johns Hopkins University announces that it will sell all its $5.3 million worth of tobacco stock. (LB)
• 1991: BUSINESS: Marlboro Medium is introduced
• 1991: BUSINESS: PM Chairman Hamish Maxwell (1981-1991) retires. Michael A. Miles (1991-1994) becomes chairman & CEO, the first non-tobacco man to do so.
• 1991: SPORTS: Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan asks sports fans to boycott events sponsored by tobacco companies, and urges promotors to shun tobacco money. His plea is ignored.

• 1992: 23rd Surgeon General's Report: Smoking in the Americas: A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1992: STATISTICS: Per-capita consumption of cigarettes stands at 7 per day among adult Americans
• 1992: CESSATION: Nicotine patch is introduced.
• 1992: Smokmg and Health in the Amencas A 1992 Report of the Surgeon General, in Collaborahon with the Pan Amencan Health Organization
• 1992: LITIGATION: Supreme Court rules that the 1965 warning label law does not shield tobacco companies from suits accusing them of deceiving the public about the health effects of smoking.
• 1992: LEGISLATION: NYC passes Vending Machine Law. Bans distribution of tobacco products through vending machines except those placed at least 25 feet from the door of a tavern.
• 1992: LEGISLATION: NY State passes Adolescent Tobacco Use Prevention Act. Prohibits free distribution of tobacco products to the public, tobacco sales through vending machines or to minors. Requires merchants to post signs saying no sales to minors and to ask for age identification of anyone under 25. Allows parent of a minor who purchased tobacco to bring a complaint against the vendor.
• 1992: LITIGATION: U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y., begins criminal probe of industry.
• 1992: ENTERTAINMENT: Pinkerton Tobacco Co., under pressure from the FTC, agrees to cease advertising its products on TV during the "Red Man Pulling Series.".
• 1992: BUSINESS: Philip Morris Magazine folds
• 1992-Fall: MEDIA: Marvin Shanken publishes first issue of Cigar Aficionado
• 1992: BUSINESS: Marlboro Adventure Team contest is introduced. Philip Morris has called the MAT one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history.
• 1992: BUSINESS: Financial World ranks Marlboro the world's No. 1 most valuable brand (value: $31.2 billion)
• 1992-04: "Marlbor Man" Wayne McLaren asks Philip Morris to limit its advertising. Dying of lung cancer, McLaren appears at PM's annual shareholders meeting in Richmond, VA, and asks the company to voluntarily limit its advertsing. Chairman Michael Miles responds: We're certainly sorry to hear about your medical problem. Without knowing your medical history, I don't think I can comment any further.
• 1992-07-22: "Marlbor Man" Wayne McLaren, 51, dies of lung cancer.
• 1993: Incoming President Bill CLINTON bans smoking in the White House.
• 1993: VERMONT is the first state in the nation to ban indoor smoking.
• 1993: US POST OFFICE bans smoking in its facilities.
• 1993: BUSINESS: Philip Morris is the nation's #2 advertiser, behind Proctor and Gamble.
• 1993: BUSINESS: Cigarette promotional expenditures reach $6.03 billion, an increase of 15.4 percent over 1992.
• 1993: BUSINESS: Financial World ranks Marlboro the world's No. 1 most valuable brand (value: $39.5 billion)
• 1993: BUSINESS: Philip Morris buys RJR Nabisco's North American cold cereal operation.
• 1993: BUSINESS: Con-Agra's Charles Harper becomes CEO of RJR
• 1993: BUSINESS: UST introduces low-nicotine, cherry-flavored Skoal Long Cut
• 1993: CANADA: LEGISLATION: Federal law is enacted to raise the legal age for buying tobacco to 18. (NCTH)
• 1993-01 FRANCE: LEGISLATION: Tobacco advertising is banned; Grand Prix auto race canceled because of tobacco advertising. In February, Grand Prix is re-instated, without direct tobacco advertising; drivers still allowed to wear sponsors' colors.
• 1993: SOUTH AFRICA: First tobacco control law passed--bans sale of cigarettes to those under 16; largely ignored
• 1993-01: HEALTH: Environmental Protection Agency declares cigarette smoke a Class-A carcinogen.
• 1993-04-02: BUSINESS: "Marlboro Friday"--PM Slashes Marlboro Prices
• 1993-07-15: USA: Tobacco BBS goes online(LB)
• 1993-09-29: LITIGATION: Wyatt, Tarant files suit against Merrell Williams over "secret" tobacco papers.
• 1993: LEGISLATION: NYC passes Tobacco Product Regulation Act. Bans out-of-package tobacco sales. Places age restrictions on handling. Prohibits sale of tobacco products to minors. Requires one public health message for every four tobacco ads appearing on city property. Bans use of tobacco products on school property.

• 1994: 24th Surgeon General's Report: Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General
• 1994: OSHA proposes severe workplace smoking restrictions.
• 1994: MEDIA: Frank Blethen's Seattle (Wash.) Times becomes the largest US newspaper to refuse tobacco advertising. "These ads were designed to kill our readers," said Times president H. Mason Sizemore, "so we decided to refuse them."
• 1994: BANS: McDonald's bans smoking in all 11,000 of its restaurants
• 1994: BANS: Dept. of Defense imposes restrictions on smoking at all US military bases worldwide
• 1994: BUSINESS: Financial World ranks Marlboro the world's No. 2 most valuable brand behind Coca-Cola (value: $33 billion)
• 1994: BUSINESS: Philip Morris sends out an estimated 19 million Marlboro promotional items; briefly becomes #3 mail order house in the US
• 1994: CANADA: LEGISLATION: Bigger and stronger warning messagess are required on cigarette packs: (NCTH)

•"Cigarettes are addictive;" •"Tobacco smoke can harm your children;" •"Cigarettes cause fatal lung disease;" •"Cigarettes cause cancer;" •"Cigarettes cause strokes and heart disease;" •"Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby;" •"Smoking can kill you;" •"Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in non-smokers."

• 1994-02: CANADA: Tobacco taxes are slashed to curb runaway bootlegging from the US.
• 1994-02: LEGISLATION: FDA commissioner David Kessler announces plans to consider regulation of tobacco as a drug.
• 1994: LEGISLATION: NY State passes PRO-KIDS Law. Prohibits smoking on school grounds in all schools, kindergarten through 12th grade. Bans out-of-package cigarette sales. Prohibits smoking in child-care centers, youth centers, group homes, public institutions or residential treatment facilities that serve young people.
• 1994-03: ADVERTISING: Brown & Williamson Tobacco yanks cigarette accounts from Saatchi unit Campbell Mithun. Gives Kool account to Grey Advertising.
• 1994-03-28 & 04-07: TV: ABC airs "Day One" segments concerning tobacco industry manipulation of nicotine
• 1994-03-29: LITIGATION: New Orleans, LA. Castano case begins; a 60-attorney coalition files what will become the nation's largest class-action lawsuit plaintiffs charge tobacco companies hid their knowledge of the addicting qualities of tobacco.
• 1994-04: BUSINESS: BAT Industries agrees to buy American Tobacco from American Brands for $1 billion.
• 1994-04-13: Tobacco Industry releases "The List" of 599 cigarette additives
• 1994-04-14: Seven Tobacco Company executives begin testimony in Congressional hearings
• 1994-04-28: ex-Philip Morris scientist Victor J. DeNoble testifies on his research into nicotine and addiction in rats; claims PM suppresed his findings.
• 1994-04: MEDIA: Time and US News and World Report each run cover stories on tobacco; as with the June 6, 1983 Newsweek, neither has a single tobacco advertisement.
• 1994-05-07: New York TImes front-page article reviews "secret" Brown & Williamson tobacco papers.
• 1994-05-12: Stanton Glantz at UCSF receives a box of "secret" Brown & Williamson tobacco papers from "Mr. Butts."
• 1994-05-23: LITIGATION: MISSISSIPPI becomes the first state to sue tobacco companies to recoup health care costs associated with smoking. (The State of Mississippi v. American Tobacco et. al., filed in the Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi (Case No. 94-1429). Case brought by Miss. A-G Michael Moore.
• 1994-05-31: FTC Clears Joe Camel
• 1994-06-02: LITIGATION: West Virginia sues tobacco companies to recoup smokers' Medicaid costs.
• 1994-07: Ex-tobacco lobbyist Victor Crawford makes first national appearance for tobacco control. Dying of cancer, Crawford is featured with ex-surgeon general C. Everett Koop in a Coalition on Smoking and Health radio spot which urges a $2 federal cigarette tax to help fund health care reform.
• 1994-08-17: LITIGATION: Minnesota and Blue Cross/Blue Shield sue tobacco companie for violating anti-trust laws by failing to disclose addictive qualities of tobacco..
• 1994-12: SOUTH AFRICA: Health Minister Nkosazana Zumaout mandates health warnings on cigarette packs and advertising.
• 1994-12: POLITICS: FDA gets letters from Congress. 124 members of the House sent a sharply worded letter to the FDA, claiming the agency's tobacco proposal would put 10,000 jobs at risk and "trample First Amendment rights to advertise legal products to adults." Two weeks later, 32 senators signed a virtually identical letter. (According to Common Cause, those senators who signed the letter had received an average of $31,368 from tobacco, compared to $11,819 for those senators who did not sign. Similarly, the House signatories received an average of $19,446, in contrast to $6,728 for other Congress members.)--Mother Jones, 4/96

• 1995: GOVERNMENT: Tobacco companies give the GOP $2.4 million in "soft" dollars. The top two soft money contributors to the GOP this year are Philip Morris ($975,149) and RJR Nabisco ($696,450). Tobacco industry PACs gave $841,120 to Republican members of Congress.
• 1995: LEGISLATION: NYC passes Smoke-Free Air Act. Strengthens Clean Indoor Air Act (1988) by banning smoking in the dining areas of all restaurants with more than 35 seats. Limits smoking to the bar area of restaurants, with certain specifications, and to a maximum of 25 percent of a restaurant's outdoor seats. Bans smoking in outdoor seating areas, such as in sports stadiums and recreational areas. Limits smoking in the workplace to a separately enclosed and ventilated room and to private offices as long as the door is kept closed and no more than three people are present, each of whom agrees to allow smoking. Prohibits smoking at all times in both indoor and outdoor areas of day-care centers. Exempts restaurants seating 35 people or less. Allows smoking in stand-alone bars. Allows smoking in sports arenas in separate smoking rooms, with some limitations.
• 1995: BUSINESS: Financial World ranks Marlboro the world's No. 2 most valuable brand behind Coca-Cola (value: $38.7 billion). The brand also has 29% of the US market--the highest market share it has ever had.
• 1995: CANADA: LEGISLATION: The Supreme Court of Canada strikes down the federal ban on tobacco advertising. Tobacco companies launch an aggressive advertising campaign, using billboards, newspaper ads and event sponsorships. Ottawa releases A Blueprint to Protect the Health of Canadians, an outline of proposed legislation to reinstate the advertising ban, but no bill has yet been introduced in Parliament. (NCTH)
• 1995-02-17: LITIGATION: CASTANO: US DIstrict Judge Okla B. Jones rules class action case may proceed.
• 1995-02-22: LITIGATION: Florida sues tobacco companies to recoup health care costs .
• 1995-03-19: CBS' "60 Minutes" airs segment featuring ex-tobacco lobbyist Victor Crawford
• 1995-05: USA: First appearance of Tobacco BBS on the internet.
• 1995-05-26: BUSINESS: Philip Morris announces unprecedented recall of 8 billion cigarettes due to a suspected chemical contaminant.
• 1995-06-09: BATF Searches 1500 Brown & Williamson Tower, B&W's US HQ, investigating possible complicity in smuggling.
• 1995-06-27: Philip Morris announces "Action Against Access," a voluntary program aimed at preventing youth access to cigarettes.
• 1995-06-30: "Secret" B&W papers become available on Internet one day after the California Supreme Court rejects B&W's attempts to suppress the information.
• 1995-07-12: AMA excoriates tobacco industry over "secret" B&W papers. AMA devotes entire July 19 issue of JAMA to a study of the papers, finds The evidence is unequivocal -- the US public has been duped by the tobacco industry. No right-thinking individual can ignore the evidence. We should all be outraged, and we should force the removal of this scourge from our nation . . .
• 1995-07-13: FDA declares nicotine a drug
• 1995-07-21: US under-age smoking found rising.
• 1995-08-10: President Clinton declares nicotine an addictive drug; FDA sends President Clinton proposals for regulating the sale and marketing of tobacco products to minors
• 1995-08-10: LITIGATION: The 5 largest tobacco companies file suit in a North Carolina court challenging the FDA's authority to regulate tobacco and advertising.. The advertising industry files in North Carolina within days. Smokeless tobacco manufacturers U.S. Tobacco Co. and Conwood Co file suit in Tennessee.
• 1995-08-21:LITIGATION: ABC apologizes to Philip Morris for "Day One" program, pays PM an estimated $16 million in legal fees.
• 1995-08-31: LITIGATION: $1.9 million awarded plaintiff Milton Horowitz in Kent Micronite filter case; only the 2nd time an award has been given in a liability case against a tobacco company. However, the suit concerned asbestos, not tobacco
• 1995-09-04: "Winston Man" Alan Landers, 54, joins anti-smoking movement.
• 1995-09: RJR's faux-micro-smokery, Moonlight Tobacco Co., introduces its artsy brands to New York, Chicago and Seattle: Politix, Sedona, Jumbos, North Star.
• 1995-10-12: "Marlboro Man" David McLean dies of lung cancer at 73
• 1995-10-20: ART: Hans Haacke and 11 other artists hang their works with protests against their New York art show's sponsor, Philip Morris
• 1995-11-09: The NY Times reports that CBS has killed broadcast of a 60 Minutes interview with a former tobacco executive (soon revealed as Jeffrey Wigand). That day, a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, KCBS, killed an anti-tobacco ad that had been running for weeks.
• 1995-11-29: Ex-B&W research executive Jeffrey Wigand testifies to federal and state prosecutors in Pascagoula, Miss.
• 1995-12-19: LITIGATION: Massachusettes sues tobacco companies for conspiring to "mislead, deceive and confuse" citizens on the hazardous effects of smoking.

• 1996-01-31: LITIGATION: Florida state appeals panel allows Florida suit to proceed, but limits case to Florida residents.
• 1996-02: TOBACCO CONTROL: National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids given $30 M launch. Will incorporate previous group, "Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids," when it begins operation in June, 1996.
• 1996-02-04: CBS airs Wigand Interview on 60 Minutes. Wigand claims B&W Chief Sandefur lied when telling Waxman's committed he believed nicotine was not addictive.
• 1996-02-05: POLITICS: Geoffrey Bible, CEO of Philip Morris Cos. Inc., chairs a dinner underwritten by Philip Morris for the Republican Governors Association, and speaks to the governors about tobacco's benefits to the economy. The gala dinner pulls in an unprecedented $2.6 million.
• 1996-02-16: LITIGATION: : Gov. Kirk Fordice (R-Miss.) sues his own attorney general, Mike Moore, in order to block Moore's "Medicaid" lawsuit.
• 1996-03-02: Victor Crawford, tobacco lobbyist-turned-tobacco-control-advocate, dies.
• 1996-03-13: LITIGATION: Liggett Group makes dramatic break with industry, offers to settle Medicaid and addiction-based lawsuits. .
• 1996-03-15: LITIGATION: Liggett settles with 5 states over Medicaid lawsuits, agreeing to pay over $10 million in Medicaid bills for the treatment of smokers. . .
• 1996-03-18: FDA releases statements of 3 more tobacco industry insiders (Dr. Ian L. Uydess, Dr. William A. Farone and Jerome K. Rivers) who claim Philip Morris carefully controls nicotine levels in cigarettes. FDA reopens comment period.
• 1996-05: LITIGATION: 44 Liquormart v. Rhode Island. Supreme Court strikes down liquor advertising ban as violating First Amendment
• 1996-05: MEDIA: The May Vanity Fair contains a massive, 22-page article by Marie Brenner on the inside story of the CBS/Wigand story. The issue contains no tobacco ads.
• 1996-05-15: BUSINESS: Philip Morris and United States Tobacco Co. offer their own plan to stop youth access, in order to avoid FDA control..
• 1996-05-20: MEDIA: The May 20, 1996 People Weekly carries 2 tobacco articles, a profile of Stanton Glantz, and an excerpt from Grisham's The Runaway Jury. The issue contains no tobacco ads...
• 1996-05-23: LITIGATION: Castano case is de-certified by Appeals Court..
• 1996-06: CDC adds prevalence of cigarette smoking as a nationally notifiable condition, bringing to 56 the number of diseases and conditions designated by CSTE as reportable by states This marks the first time a behavior, rather than a disease or illness, has been considered nationally reportable.(LB)
• 1996-07-19: LITIGATION: Massachusetts becomes the 10th state to sue tobacco companies..
• 1996-08-09: LITIGATION: FL: Brown & Williamson is ordered to pay the Grady Carters $750,000 in only the second financial judgement ever in a strictly-tobacco-oriented liability lawsuit.
• 1996-08-23: LEGISLATION: President Clinton approves proposed FDA regulations, giving FDA authority to regulate cigarettes as a "drug delivery device.".
• 1996-10-17: Researchers disclose molecular link between a substance in tobacco tar and lung cancer: a benzo (a) pyrene derivative damages lung cancer-suppressor gene, p53, in the exact "hotspot" associated with lung cancer. Science magazine

• 1997-03-20: Liggett Tobacco and 22 states settle lawsuits; Liggett admits smoking is addictive, can cause cancer; agrees to turn over documents.
• 1997-03-21: Liggett issues statement: "We at Liggett know and acknowledge that, as the Surgeon General and respected medical researchers have found, cigarette smoking causes health problems, including lung cancer, heart and vascular disease and emphysema. Liggett acknowledges that the tobacco industry markets to 'youth,' which means those under 18 years of age, and not just those 18-24 years of age."
• 1997-04-18: Attorneys General confirm they are talking with PM and RJR about a Settlement
• 1997-04-25: NC Federal judge rules FDA may regulate tobacco as a drug; strikes down provisions to regulate advertising.
• 1997-05-01: Tobacco Cos offer a Settlement that would include FDA regulation, money for anti-smoking campaigns, and bans on vending machines and outdoor advertising.
• 1997-05-05: Tobacco wins closely-watched liability suit. 6-member jury in Raulerson vs. RJ Reynolds Tobacco, et.al. fails to find RJR guilty of negligence in the lung cancer death of smoker Jean Connor.
• 1997-05-28: Health advocates meet in Chicago to hear of SETTLEMENT Talks.
• 1997-05-28: ADVERTISING: FTC acuses Joe Camel ad campaign of illegally targeting underage youth.
• 1997-06-02: LITIGATION: NORMA BROIN's airline attendants seconhand smoke trial begins jury selection in Miami.
• 1997-06-17: ADVERTISING: RJR Sues FTC over Joe Camel Complaint
• 1997-06-20: AGs, tobacco companies come to landmark settlement. Agreement provides for unprecedented restrictions on cigarettes and on tobacco makers' liability in lawsuits. Industry to spend $360 billion over 25 years, mainly on anti-smoking campaigns, use bold health warning on packs, curb advertising and face fines if youth smoking drops insufficiently. Subject to congressional approval.
• 1997-07-09: RJR kills JOE CAMEL campaign, replaces Joe with darker, sexier "What You're Looking For."
• 1997-07-21: LITIGATION: BROIN: For the first time ever, a tobacco co. executive, LIGGETT CEO BENNETT LEBOW, testifies that cigarettes cause cancer.

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This page was written and donated to History Net by Gene Borio ©1997, the Tobacco BBS 212-982-4645. WebPage: http://www.tobacco.org •Original Tobacco BBS material may be reprinted in any non-commercial venue if accompanied by this credit