II. Marketing to Youth pre-MSA

This is part of what I've been working on for the past few days. It is very boring, and I would suggest that you keep in mind I'm tired and frustrated and unwilling to write up something. Take note of the lackluster prose, the lack of care in editing, the general malaise that accompanies my work. Check back in next week when I'll be even more cranky because, hey, it's the holidays.

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The tobacco manufacturers adopted the Cigarette Advertising Code as a voluntary control on how it would advertise towards youth.[1] “All major cigarette companies in the United States claim to follow the provisions of the Cigarette Advertising Code.”[2] Included in the code’s restrictions on advertising were prohibitions against advertising to youth in comics, at schools, on television and radio, and during commercials.[3] Samples were not to be distributed to those under the age of twenty-one, nor on college campuses.[4] The advertising did not imply that smoking would lead to success or make one more sexually attractive, and models in advertisements were to be older than twenty-five and appear as such.[5] They were not to be portrayed in any such manner that would imply they had just participated in any physical activity.[6] Were these restrictions to be followed, it would have made great strides towards helping to prevent youth smoking.

Despite these restrictions, the tobacco companies continued targeting youth in their advertising campaigns. At the time, increasing information about the compound hazards of smoking worried the public, and this Code was part of the public relations reaction.[7] Three years after the Code’s inception, an FTC report found the Code without teeth, as the tobacco companies continued marketing towards youth.[8] Considering no traces of sanctions for violations of the Code exist,[9] it seems clear the main function was to appease a public looking for accountability and responsibility from companies unwilling to make changes.

Further, within the tobacco companies’ internal documents, there exists evidence that marketing towards youth continued unabated. Their internal documents often did not directly refer to youth under the age of eighteen. Instead, they applied several code phrases, such as YAS, FUBYAS, switchers, and so on, which corresponded to older demographics on their face, but secretly applied to teenagers.

The acronym YAS refers to Young Adult Smokers,[10] and encompasses eighteen to twenty-four year olds,[11] one of the most highly coveted demographics among businesses. This term started to replace references to “youth” starting in the late 70s.[12] FUBYAS stands for First Usual Brand Young Adult Smokers, “[t]hose younger adults who are already smokers but have reached the stage of choosing a First Usual Brand.” [13] Having yet developed loyalty to any particular cigarette brand, FUBYAS skew younger than YAS, but still, in the documentation, remain above age eighteen. The term is inconsistent, at 80% of smokers have already established a first brand by the age of eighteen.[14] Switchers are those YAS already brand-loyal,[15] dubbed due to the possibility they might be enticed into switching their brand allegiance.

These internal documents follow the proper channels in focusing their marketing efforts on eighteen and older demographics. However, the subtle reality paints a much different landscape, that this marketing concentrates on teenagers. A Lorillard internal memorandum from 1978 proclaimed that the business’ success would be predicated upon high school students.[16] Some of the market research describes YAS needs and desires as “belonging, being different, upward striving, excitement, sex.”[17] These needs and desires correspond with the needs and desires of every American teenager in every era. R. J. Reynolds’ 1984 internal research lists the “FUBYAS Social Groups Spectrum” from conformist to nonconformist: “Goody Goodies, Preps, GQs, Discos, Rockers, Party Parties, Punkers, Burnouts.”[18] These labels do not affix smooth upon today’s youth’s chests; despite a few statements to the contrary, disco has indeed died. Instead, substitute Hip-hops, Raps, or whichever designation in place of Discos, and that list would describe teen society in 2005.

In a separate research report on FUBYAS, R.J. Reynolds chose to study eighteen to twenty year olds without any college education.[19] The research found married FUBYAS exhibited traits and characteristics reminiscent of older smokers, while single FUBYAS reflected their peers, so the most attention was spent on single FUBYAS.[20] Younger unmarried individuals lacking a college education represent the teenage demographic quite well. Outliers that fit into those two categories might not even meet the marketing expectations and desires of the tobacco companies. If not conclusive, this evidence certainly lends great support to the proposition that in tobacco marketing parlance, YAS, and FUBYAS in particular, mean teenagers.

The tobacco companies require “news,” (new smokers) to replace the “quits,” (smokers that have ceased smoking, whether through voluntary or involuntary cessation).[21] Successful YAS-centric marketing represents the ultimate goal.[22] R.J. Reynolds have described FUBYAS as the only source of replacement smokers, and want to market towards them in order to continue to grow their brands.[23] Let their own words condemn them: “A Brand or Company’s ability to attract and maintain younger adult smokers is vital to longer term success.”[24] Much of the research converges upon attempts to decipher and understand the younger generation’s motivations.

Even when the tobacco companies tried not to explicitly come out and show their marketing towards children, sometimes, they couldn’t help it. An internal memo states, “There’s nothing like starting them out young! ‘Ritchie’ is a wonderful little guy and, while he doesn’t smoke, he tells me he talks up Newports all the time.”[25] The enclosed image is of a young child accepting a cigarette proffered by an elderly lady.[26] The memo and image speak for themselves.

At Brown & Williamson, a brainstorming session resulted in some very disturbing thoughts concerning marketing towards youth. Included in the thoughts were trying to link parental smoking to children smoking, considering how smoking and nonsmoking parents felt about their children smoking, extrapolating based on current information whether there were predictors in children that would predispose them towards become adult smokers, even contacting a youth research firm for help on the project.[27] Camel-brand cigarettes, under a somewhat similar analysis, wanted to approach the young adult smoker market, in order to become the brand of young adult smokers, and to ensure that Camel could continue into the future.[28] That these companies are attempting to market towards youth is evident.

There is a comprehensive attempt at breaking down underlying FUBYAS motivations, radically different from middle-aged executives’ and managers’ motivations. FUBYAS want to belong to a peer group at the exclusion of other peer groups and their families.[29] No doubt the executives enjoyed more stable family lives, and their families played a more important role in their upbringing. Hedonistic FUBYAS continuously partook of adrenaline-high activities.[30] The executives probably led more sedate lifestyles. If they pursued active, exciting hobbies, they also demonstrated moderation. FUBYAS regarded sexuality in a promiscuous manner, and the more the better.[31] The executives had probably been married for decades, or kept a mistress or two, but never really experimented as sexually freely as the FUBYAS had, or wanted to. FUBYAS wanted to excel in life, but to them, this entailed becoming popular, going to a good party, being respected by peers.[32] To the executives in a lucrative market, excelling translated into profit, profit, profit, and popularity be damned. In summing up their findings, the researchers concluded: “Make the marketing fit… 1. TODAY, not tomorrow 2. STAYING YOUNG/not in the rut 3. ON THE EDGE, not the middle ground.”[33] For all the fundamental differences in worldview, these executives might have been trying to sell cigarettes to aliens from outer space.

The research considered a variety of methods. The example of Budweiser marketing on television’s Saturday Night Live is cited to demonstrate a successful means of reaching youth.[34] One of the propositions involves creating a cigarette that corresponds with a lifestyle, to appeal to the youthful desire to take risks and live fast.[35] Discounts, premiums and contests, all forms of immediate gratification, were listed as some of the most effective means for marketing towards FUBYAS.[36] Again, this required a different way of doing things, far different than what the executives were used to, in order to appeal to a class of people they were unfamiliar with.

In creating a possible new brand, R.J. Reynolds ran through many different possibilities to connect with youth. They considered linking the new brand to rock music.[37] Another proposition involved creating “heroes in a fantasy or mysterious environment,”[38] or “a folk hero who instead of a cowboy is a musician,”[39] appealing to the escapist notions omnipresent in teenagers. They created games which required the packaging as a sort of goal, and cigarettes as tokens.[40] Most of these ideas alienate the older market in order to attract the younger. The ultimate goal was to hook the smokers while young through connecting on an emotional/spiritual level, then allow the addictive properties of cigarettes to keep them hooked through the oncoming years. Given the effort exerted to produce these ideas, the teenage market is exceedingly important to the tobacco companies’ continued existence.

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[1] Cigarette Advertising Code 1. 1964. Bates: 503813713-503813721,

http://tobaccodocuments.org/youth/AmToMUL19640000.Co.html.

[2] John W. Richards et al., The Tobacco Industry’s Code of Advertising in the United States: Myth and Reality, Tob. 5 Control 295, 295 (1996) (quoting Samuel D. Chilcote, Jr., President of the Tobacco Institute, Mar 5 1991).

[3] Cigarette Advertising Code, supra note 1, at 5.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id. at 6.

[7] Richards at 296.

[8] Id. at 297-298.

[9] Id, at 296.

[10] Are Younger Adult Smokers Important? 3. 08 Nov 1984. Bates: 502205035-502205142.
http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/502205035-5142.html.

[11]Younger Adult Smokers 1. 21 Jul 1988. Bates: 507309677-507309746.
http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/507309677-9746.html.

[12] K.M. Cummings and C.P. Morley, Marketing to America’s Youth: Evidence from Corporate Documents, Tob. 11 Supp. I Tob. Control i5, i7 (2002).

[13] Outline 3. Jan 1985. Bates: 503706142-503706184.

http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/503706142-6184.html.

[14] Cummings, supra note 12, at i9.

[15] Outline, supra note 13.

[16] Cummings, supra note 12, at i7.

[17] Are Younger Adult Smokers Important?, supra note 10, at 55.

[18] Id. at 88.

[19] Rjr; Harden, R.J. Marketing Research Report. First Usual Brand Younger Adult Smoker Media and Promotion Exploratory 4. 20 Feb 1985. Bates: 504596556-504596566.

http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/504596556-6566.html 4

[20] Id. at 5.

[21] Id. at 34.

[22] Id. at 50.

[23] Cummings, supra note 12, at i10.

[24] Younger Adult Smokers, supra note 11, at 2.

[25] Kessely, Nicholas E; Lennen, & Newell Inc. 1. "[Re: Lorillard's Habit-Forming Kit]". 08 Nov 1963. Bates: 84409798-84409799, 88927085,.
http://tobaccodocuments.org/youth/AmYoLOR19631108.Lt.html

[26] Kessely, supra note 25, at 2.

[27] George, Jon; Jon. "[Re: Meeting Minutes of B & W Problem Lab]" 2. 27 Apr 1977. Bates: 170040579-170040582, 170041305. http://tobaccodocuments.org/youth/AmYoBWC19770427.Mm.html

[28] "Task" 1-2. 1989. Bates: 506757956-506757965.
http://tobaccodocuments.org/youth/AmCgRJR19890000.Ls.html

[29] Id. at 58.

[30] Id. at 68, 76.

[31] Id. at 77.

[32] Id. at 63.

[33] Are Younger Adult Smokers Important?, supra note 10, at 101.

[34] Successful Marketing to Younger Adult Smokers 18. 19840101;19870320. Bates: 504748516-504748613.

http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/504748516-8613.html. Cigarette manufacturers cannot advertise their products on television due to the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969. The import of this anecdote was that you have to appeal to the youth by going with what they watch, not necessarily what you (the establishment) watch.

[35] Cambridge Group. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Project Planning Status Update 25. 05 Dec 1984. Bates: 502786492-502786576.

http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/502786492-6576.html.

[36] Rjr [sic]; Harden, R.J. Marketing Research Report. First Usual Brand Younger Adult Smoker Media and Promotion Exploratory 6, 8. 20 Feb 1985. Bates: 504596556-504596566.

http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/504596556-6566.html.

[37] First Session Agenda Items 6. 1984. Bates: 504104454-504104495.

http://tobaccodocuments.org/rjr/504104454-4495.html.

[38] Id. at 10.

[39] Id. at 17. The reference to the cowboy is likely a veiled reference to the Marlboro Man, long a “folk hero” to generations of male smokers.

[40] Id. at 21.