Additional Items for Discussion

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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Additional Items for Discussion

This short outline appears to be a brainstorming document about how Philip Morris (PM) could use its front group, the National Smokers Alliance, to influence the cultural, political and legal landscapes in the U.S. to its favor.

The document lists ideas from PM's public relations company, Burson Marstellar, about how Philip Morris could apply the NSA. One idea was an advertising campaign to help take business away from Taco Bell, an American fast-food chain that voluntarily chose to go smoke-free. Another idea was to get members of the NSA to help PM fund its lawsuits. Other ideas included using the NSA to fund surveys that would yield results favorable for the tobacco industry, and using the NSA to form Political Action Committees (PACs) which would target pro-health members of Congress for election defeat.

Burson on NSA:

  • No question about the need to be more proactive given the number and intensity of the issues coming at the company.
  • NSA is the key .... a political group a[t] Burson brainstormed over things NSA could do...
  • Launch a campaign against Taco Bell -- ads, target franchisees, phone campaign, take out ads saying, "want a taco, try _________..." in select neighborhoods.
  • Escalate the NSA sign-ups outside of buildings .... small test yielded 6,800 members with unbelievable response -- build members in Baltimore, Washington and in Virginia-- consider a low key van program.
  • Form NSA Litigation Fund and encourage smokers to help fund suits...get them involved...
  • Form NSA PAC [Political Action Committee] and go to work on targeted members of Congress...pick some specific targets and defeat someone.
  • Move the FET [Federal excise tax on cigarettes] fight to a full scale political campaign and hire a firm to run it as such to reach smokers
  • Consider having NSA fund a survey with favorable results that could be released
  • Run a talk radio campaign with smokers calling into talk radio stations across the country on one specific week to challenge FET.</blockquot>

Title ADDITIONAL ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
Date 19940300/E
Type REPORT
Bates 2045741537/1539
Pages 3
URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/fbl16e00

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