The good news: the public climate of opposition to the tobacco industry's marketing tactics has pushed the Clinton administration to support FDA action against the marketing of tobacco. See INFACT's statement on the Clinton proposal.
And now, the bad news: as you have no doubt heard, ABC apologized to Philip Morris on the air during World News Tonight and Monday Night Football. At issue was an ABC Day One program that exposed how the tobacco industry manipulates nicotine to keep smokers addicted. That claim is the basis of the FDA's authority over tobacco products. Philip Morris milked the apology for all it was worth with full-page ads in USA Today, the New York Times, and other papers.
PM's purpose in squeezing the apology out of ABC is clear-cut: to derail the FDA's attempt to assert jurisdiction over tobacco products. It's no coincidence that this settlement was reached now, early in the 90-day public comment period on the proposed FDA regulations. PM zeroed in on the implication that tobacco companies "spike" cigarettes with nicotine, insisting that the level of nicotine in their cigarettes is lower than what naturally occurs in tobacco. In reality, Day One focused on how the companies carefully control levels of nicotine, something they wouldn't bother to do if its addictive properties weren't essential to tobacco sales.
Drawing on its many years of experience in successful litigation, Philip Morris pulled out all the stops against ABC. This $53 billion global marketing machine issued a warning by threatening to withdraw $100 million of Kraft and Miller advertising from ABC. Then PM filed a $10 billion lawsuit, subpoenaed travel records in an attempt to ferret out a confidential source, and copied all of the internal documents it released for discovery on dark red "Nocopi" paper. As the Disney Company closes its deal to acquire Capital Cities/ABC this summer, it's no surprise that Disney executives were eager to get rid of a liability equal to half the value of their entire acquisition.
In the end, Capital Cities/ABC, a corporation in the business of selling advertising, capitulated to the advertisers. The impact of this intimidation and cowardice may well be felt for generations, as the global tobacco industry hooks more than 3,000 US teens and thousands more worldwide as regular smokers each day.
Compiled by INFACT staff members. Edited for the Internet by T. Boutell.