Posted on 09/08/2001 6:04:39 PM PDT by Max McGarrity
The entire article is available only to subscribers, but the following excerpt was found on Gene Borio's Tobacco BBS, a major anti resource funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:
(The American Legacy Foundation, created with money extorted from smokers by the Master Settlement Agreement)
Indeed, Favat is hesitant to tell me about some of his ideas for the campaign because, he says, he's worried they might not get approved by the foundation and its board of directors. "A lot of our work gets killed by lawyers," says Favat.
It's not that the foundation doesn't share Favat's views on smoking or even his passion. But its mission is limited by the terms of the tobacco settlement: Legacy's charter includes a so-called antivilification clause, which forbids the foundation from attacking the tobacco companies directly and introduces a specter of liability that haunts the board of directors, who must approve all of Favat's work. The foundation's effectiveness is further constrained, critics say, by the political ambitions of individual board members and, perhaps most important, by their decision to set aside more than $100 million a year of their funding in order to ensure the long-term viability of the foundation itself. Legacy has taken on a sense of permanency, and the imperatives of institutionalization may be at odds with the foundation's main goal -- convincing teens not to smoke. Says one antismoking advocate who has followed the foundation's work closely: "People had a lot higher hopes for Legacy." . .
"We didn't want to be a flash in the pan," says Healton. By setting aside $100 million a year and investing it, she says, along with "a fairly modest amount of fund-raising" ($5-25 million a year), the Legacy Foundation will be able to exist in perpetuity and have a yearly budget of $75-100 million after 2008. "Just because we are seeking to be here for the long haul doesn't mean that we are rolling over and playing dead on the idea of [antitobacco marketing]," Healton says.
But the foundation's focus has clearly shifted significantly: According to a 1999 Arnold press release, the budget for the Truth campaign was set at $150-225 million a year. But this year, according to Healton, the Truth budget has been set at $94 million (for fiscal 2002). The cuts primarily reflect investment in the reserve fund. . .
According to Healton's numbers, there are 400,000 pregnant women who smoke at any one time in America. But critics argue that there aren't enough pregnant smokers to justify a $10 million national TV advertising campaign. "I think that's a waste of money," says UC professor Glantz. "They are getting political pressure from people on their board to do that."
Indeed, the Great Start campaign is a telling example of the board's decision-making process. Governor Michael Leavitt, a Utah Republican who sits on the board, pushed the campaign because his wife, Jacalyn, was involved in the issue. As chairman of the National Governors' Association, Leavitt got that group involved as well. . .
I decide to see whether Favat is right. On the last day of June, I head down to the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., where a Truth campaign team will market to teens outside a rap concert. . .
The Legacy Foundation's board, I was told, had a lot of problems with this type of street marketing when the concept was proposed. The foundation's lawyers tried to get the team members to use scripts for talking to teens -- so that the Truth workers would be sure not to vilify the tobacco companies. (Ultimately they were given lists of talking points instead.) None of the Truth kids seems to come even close to the vilification line. Instead, they may represent the best of the Truth campaign: twentysomethings marketing to teenagers using their own lingo and a lot of charm. And Favat is right: The teens seem to love the gear.
And remembering the Truth ads showing body bags piled up in front of Philip Morris headquarters, etc., sure doesn't seem to me to be following their own charter. Makes one wonder what happened to big, bad Big Tobacco that they don't even fight back anymore. They're ALL bastids!
Didn't you here about the ALF ad campaign that claimed dog urine was used in making of cigarettes. They had one of their folks call a tobacco company and offer to sell them some - and taped the conversation - and incorporated it into the ads.
The company (I forget which one, Lorilard maybe?) is pissed and is fighting back. A few weeks back Healton was all over the Sunday Talking head programs defending the ALF and their campaigns. To be honest - I haven't seen and ALF ad since that day.
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