Fact

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

FACT was a new brand of "low gas" cigarettes created by Brown & Williamson (B&W) in the 1970s. The ad campaign for FACT actually drew smokers' attention to some of the dangerous gases (aldehydes, acetaldehyde, priopionaldehyde, acrolein) that are present in cigarette smoke. FACT was aimed at the health-conscious smoker, much like Lorillard Tobacco Company's Kent cigarettes with the Micronite filter of the 1950s.

A 1978 B&W memo, however, indicates that B&W's management eventually saw tremendous danger in this type of marketing, saying

B&W should not pursue a new product positioned as a low gas-low 'tar'...We do not support definition in advertising of the problem of gas in order to specifically communicate its consumer benefit and distinguish it from low 'tar.' To supply such a definition would require overt references to the alleged ciliatoxic and cardiovascular ill effects of smoking. The possible ramifications of this in the Legal, Regulatory and Policy area are appalling....A likely result of such activity on our part would be escalation of quitting rates among smokers...[1]

Advertisements for FACT cigarettes

"Introducing FACT, low gas, low 'tar' "(1976):
http://tobaccodocuments.org/pollay_ads/Fact01.02a.html?ocr_position=hide_ocr

"Fact: If you're concerned about smoking, you should know something about gas."(Undated.):
http://tobaccodocuments.org/pollay_ads/Fact01.01.html?ocr_position=hide_ocr

"I'm realistic. I only smoke Facts.(1978):
http://tobaccodocuments.org/pollay_ads/Fact01.03.html?ocr_position=hide_ocr