Changes

In March 1985, [[Hamish Maxwell]] the Chairman of Philip Morris sent a memo to his executives asking them to consider: ''"How can we change the public's view towards smoking?"'' His senior executive, the Australian [[R William Murray|Bill Murray]], was holding a round-table meeting of Philip Morris International executives to jolly up the troops, and he passed the question on to them. <BLOCKQUOTE><I> "There are some 50 million smokers today in the US, I realize that research tells us that the majority of smokers wished they did not smoke and are, therefore, unlikely to be of much help to the industry. There are probably 5% or so of smokers who are ready to stand up for their habit and this would give us a body of some 2.5 million people. This is a large block of voters, even in a country as large as the US." </i></BLOCKQUOTE> This idea is a direct feed into the Smoker's Rights groups which Philip Morris is actively promoting. He then introduces a range of ideas:

* Other groups such as the [[National Rifle Association]] have been highly successful at protecting a seemingly impossible cause. They have found a way to motivate and use their members, and the politicians have responded.

* Commission a book on the 'anti-industry-industry', to promote the idea that the anti-smokers are money-grubbing zealots.

* Discredit [[John Banzhaf]] (of the anti-smoking ASH organisation) by alleging he is involved in the porno industry.