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Truth be told
-- campaign tells it like it is
By Cynthia Tom
On-line Forty-Niner
The Truth is out
there.
Unlike most propaganda regarding the tobacco industry, the
Truth campaign is unique in its intent to educate viewers
and help them make informed decisions, rather than condone
or condemn smoking.
"Our only objective is to make sure every person gets
to know the facts so that people can have all of the information
necessary to make up their minds for themselves," said
Truth executives on the organization's Web site, www.thetruth.com.
"Our philosophy
isn't anti-smoker or pro-nonsmoker. It's not even so much
about smoking. It's about an industry manipulating their products,
facts and advertising to secure replacements for the 1,200
customers they 'lose' everyday. You know, because they die."
The irreverently comical and often controversial spots have
gained popularity and attention on television, the Internet,
radio airwaves and magazine pages. The most notorious ads
highlight the tobacco industry's use of ammonia, a chemical
found in animal fecal matter, in cigarettes to add flavor
and addict consumers.
From marketing ammonia as a beverage called "Ammoniade"
at a major tobacco industry conference to fitting urinals
with alerts that urine and cigarettes contain common ingredients,
the ads are aggressive and direct; so much, in fact, that
some television networks have refused to air them.
It seems Truth is living up to its name, objective and reputation.
In December, a survey sponsored by the National Institute
on Drug Abuse of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
reported sharp declines in youth smoking rates and cited Truth
ads as one of the key factors in the results.
Student response, also, indicates that Truth is successfully
spelling out the facts on the tobacco industry.
"The ads definitely call to attention things that people
otherwise wouldn't know," said Jon Hara, a junior family
and consumer science major who has been smoking for five years.
"It's a good angle that's definitely original, and I
respect that they're not just out to dictate and judge peoples'
actions.
"I'm nonetheless a smoker, but had I been exposed to
these commercials when I was younger, I might've never started,"
Hara said. "At the very least, I would have been more
aware and less inclined to see cigarettes as glamorized."
Non-smoking students seem to agree.
"I think the comedic approach appeals to youth, and I
wish Truth was around when I was younger," said Aaron
Hernandez, a junior kinesiology and physical education major
who has never tried smoking. "I think it would have dissuaded
a lot more people to not try smoking in the first place."
Fellow kinesiology major and non-smoker, sophomore Mark Camaclang,
agreed.
"The ads keep me even less inclined to start smoking,
but as a non-smoker they're more of a 'for your information'
thing with entertainment value," Camaclang said.
Truth was founded by the American Legacy Foundation, a public
health foundation established in the 1998 Master Settlement
Agreement between the tobacco industry, 46 states, and five
U.S. territories. The MSA included provisions to stop the
marketing of cigarettes to minors and provided the states
with funding from the tobacco industry for programs that promote
tobacco prevention, control and awareness. In all, the tobacco
industry agreed to pay a total of $246 billion to states for
such programs.
As a result, Truth was established in 1999 and has since grown
to be the largest advertising and grassroots effort ever launched
to prevent youth smoking in the United States.
Most recently, Truth and Legacy have come under fire by Lorillard
Tobacco Company, one of the companies involved in the MSA.
Lorillard is the manufacturer of Newport Brand cigarettes,
which, in 2000, captured 7.6 percent of the total market and
18.7 percent of the youth market according to Legacy.
In a Jan. 18 letter, Lorillard Vice President Ronald Milstein
alleged, "It has become abundantly clear that [Legacy's]
'truth' campaign is not about conveying the truth about tobacco
products to the American public, so much as vilifying and
personally attacking tobacco companies and their employees."
Under the terms of the settlement, the funds provided by tobacco
companies for public awareness about tobacco may not be used
in the alleged manner.
"Rather than focus on the products themselves, in large
part the message of the 'truth' campaign is that the participating
manufacturers and their executives are dishonest, deceitful,
callous, malicious, or otherwise unscrupulous," Milstein
continues in the letter.
Lorillard has threatened to sue Legacy for breach of the agreement
if immediate action is not taken. Last Wednesday, Legacy filed
a lawsuit stating that they are not expressly a party to the
MSA and asking the court to declare that they have not violated
any settlement provision.
Despite such opposition, Truth executives are not discouraged.
In a statement on the Truth Web site they said, "We may
be young, but we will never forget that that's what makes
us faster and stronger."
"Ad Week" trade magazine named Truth, which spent
$100 million in advertising in 2001, 1.2 percent of the tobacco
industry total, "Campaign of the Year" in 2000.
Also, Truth radio ads were named top Public Service Campaign
at the 2001 London International Advertising Awards.
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