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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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DOJ Trial: Tobacco Firms Adapted to Advertising Restrictions and Continued to Market to Youth [12/02-1]
Excerpts from: Tobacco firms adapted to ad curbs, U.S. trial told
By John Poirier Reuters [12/01/04]
U.S. cigarette makers adapted their advertising and internal communications as
safety concerns grew and legal ways to promote their products were restricted, a
marketing expert testified for the government on Wednesday.
Robert Dolan, dean of the University of Michigan's business school, also told the $280 billion racketeering trial against the industry that he believes tobacco marketing practices have contributed to teenage smoking.
After a ban on television advertising in the early 1970s, tobacco companies moved marketing efforts to other media such as magazines and massive billboards, he said.
When a 1998 settlement with states outlawed billboards and event sponsorship, cigarette companies moved their marketing focus to things like in-store promotions and price discounts.
"Mass communication moved into retail," Dolan said, testifying in the eleventh week of the trial.
In prepared testimony, Dolan said there was a shift over the decades from referring to teenage smokers in internal communications to using terms such as "young adult smokers" and "first usual brand young adult smokers."
"It is clear from a review of the overall document set that defendants were aware of the possibility of internal documents becoming public information and they did not want their internal documents to compromise their public statements about marketing practices," Dolan said in pre-written answers.
"The tobacco companies clearly understood that these 'starters' were, to a large degree, teenagers," Dolan said.
The tobacco companies deny they conspired to promote smoking and say the government has no grounds to pursue them after they drastically changed marketing practices as part of the 1998 settlement with state attorneys general.
Defense attorneys are expected to start cross-examining Dolan on Thursday.
David Bernick, an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis representing Reynolds's Brown and Williams unit, said he expects the defense to show that companies did not market to teenagers.
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