Don’t Smoke `em if You Get `em

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is revamping its direct-mail sampling system nationally in response to complaints from the Arizona attorney general.

Reynolds will spend an estimated $10 million to overhaul its database after two Arizona residents complained to Attorney General Janet Napolitano that they received Winston cigarette samples they didn’t request.

Someone apparently falsified RJR’s verification forms, which consumers fill out to get samples via mail. One form bore the name of a man who’d been dead for 18 years.

The tobacco manufacturer stopped sampling nationally in January and is mailing all consumers on its list to double-check that they do want samples. Anyone who doesn’t confirm – and certify their age – comes off the mailing list. RJR has an estimated 30 million to 35 million consumers in its database, but could see that number shrink considerably if the mailing only generates the 12-percent to 18-percent response rate that’s the industry average for mailings without an incentive.

RJR also agreed to change how it collects names in bars and clubs. The company won’t mail samples to consumers reached through bars unless it receives a photo of the consumer’s driver’s license. (That’s how Philip Morris already verifies bar contacts.) Any request forms sent by field agents without a photo ID will trigger a re-verification form sent to the consumer. RJR has stopped collecting names in bars until field staffers are equipped with digital cameras.

“Under this system, there is no ability for a field agent to falsify any information,” says RJR spokeswoman Carole Crosslin.

Dennis Burke, special assistant to the Arizona AG, speculates that field reps working bars who didn’t meet quotas took names and addresses out of the phone book and made up birthdates. RJR representatives told the AG’s office that they have put the company handling bar sign-ups on probation.

Bars have been a key venue for cigarette makers since marketing restrictions began in 1998 as part of the Master Settlement Agreement between tobacco companies and state governments. That agreement does not address direct-mail sampling.

Napolitano expressed concern when she first contacted RJR in November that unsolicited samples could reach kids, a major no-no under the settlement. For six weeks, RJR contended that its mailing system was secure, but agreed to changes after Napolitano shared the two falsified forms.

“Their initial response was belligerent. They said they could guarantee their system was flawless – until we showed them evidence,” Burke says.

RJR’s U.S. volume sales fell 13 percent in 1999 to 96.4 billion units. But dollar sales were up 33 percent to $7.56 billion, the company reports.