R.J. Reynolds Halts Promotion After Backlash

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has decided to halt a promotion that couples cigarettes with heavy drinking. The promotion targets young adults and has come under attack from three state attorneys general, as well as public advocacy groups

The attorneys general from New York, California and Maryland had sent two letters to R.J. Reynolds, one on Nov. 21 and one on Dec. 13, calling for an immediate halt to the promotion called “Drinks on Us.” The attorneys general said that the tobacco company had been mailing birthday greetings to young adults that included the branding on drink coasters of Camel cigarettes and encouraged the over-consumption of well-known alcohol brands including Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Finlandia Vodka, Kahlua, Bacardi Limón and Bailey’s via recipes. Also on Tuesday, the three AGs offices released press releases to the media about the issue, putting further pressure on R.J. Reynolds.

“This promotion is a complete abomination,” NY AG Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday in a statement. “Virtually every parent in America knows what it is like to anxiously wait for a child to come home from a night out with friends, worrying that someone will be drinking and driving. Now R.J. Reynolds— not satisfied just selling its own deadly products— encouraging individuals to ‘celebrate’ their birthdays by abusing alcohol. It is just shameful.”

The AGs offices received a letter yesterday from R. J. Reynolds saying that it planned to immediately halt the promotion.

The birthday greetings, which mailed widely, read: “Camel—’s your Birthday. Drinks on Us.” Six different drink coasters were included in the envelope, each with a recipe for mixed drinks with high alcohol content and tag lines that promote excessive and irresponsible drinking, Spitzer said.

Spitzer said that some of the tag lines read: “Layer it on. Go ‘Til Daybreak,” “Mix Three Shots Together Over Ice, then Make Sure You’re Sittin'” and “Pour Over Ice, Then Let it Burn.”

The promotion began in January or February 2005 and was scheduled to end next April, said R.J. Reynolds spokesperson Maura Payne.

Payne said the direct mail pieces were part of a regular mail stream sent to adult smokers who have opted in to receive mailings from R.J. Reynolds. She declined to comment on the number of pieces mailed. When asked why the company did not end the promotion in November when the AGs offices first raised concerns, Payne said that R.J. Reynolds explained that the mailings all went to adult smokers and that it was not in agreement with the AGs views of the promotion.

“We disagree with the attorneys general interpretation of the program,” Payne said yesterday. “These are adults, many of them sign up to be on our mailing lists. We did not agree with their characterization of the program but at the end of the day it really wasn’t worth fighting over.”

R.J. Reynolds had also received letters from the alcohol distillers whose trademarks were used in the promotion and who were unaware of the promotion until notified by the AGs in November. The distillers said that the promotion violated the alcohol industry’s advertising code, which prohibits marketing practices that encourage excessive drinking or promote the intoxicating effects of alcohol consumption. The distillers all demanded that R.J. Reynolds “cease and desist” or face legal action. Spitzer said that up until yesterday, R.J. Reynolds had refused those requests.

Spitzer, along with Maryland AG J. Joseph Curran, Jr. and California AG Bill Lockyer, wrote to R. J. Reynolds in November demanding that the program be discontinued “because of the grave public health concerns raised by this promotion of excessive drinking, particularly among young adults.” In response, the three AGs sent the second letter Tuesday, “expressing their outrage and disappointment with R.J. Reynold’s refusal to discontinue this irresponsible promotion.”

Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort and Finlandia Vodka, said that it had received a letter dated Nov. 21, 2005 from the three AGs, notifying it of the promotion. Spokesperson Phil Lynch said yesterday that the company did an internal check and found that none of its marketers had authorized the promotion. Brown-Forman then sent a letter to R.J. Reynolds asking it to stop using Brown-Forman trademarks. R.J. Reynolds responded that it would continue use of the trademarks, based on what it called “fair use”, Lynch said.

On Dec. 2, Brown-Forman sent a letter to the AGs explaining that it did not authorize the use of its brand’s trademarks and that the promotion was in violation of the distilled spirit’s code as well as its own internal marketing codes. It also sent a letter to R.J. Reynold’s asking it to cease and desist the promotion and gave the company until Dec. 15 to respond.

“We did not authorize and would not authorize any tobacco company to use our trademarks in such a promotion,” Lynch said.

Public health and children’s watch groups were also outraged by the promotion.

“R.J. Reynolds has set a new low even for a tobacco company with its latest marketing campaign,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, in a statement. “By linking smoking and alcohol, this campaign blatantly encourages young people to start abusing alcohol as well as to smoke. We are appalled that Reynolds is trying to increase its cigarette sales by promoting alcohol abuse by young adults.”

The International Institute for Alcohol Awareness and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation had also put pressure on R.J. Reynolds Tuesday, calling for the alcohol brands identified in the promotion to take “every legal action necessary to stop it”.

“I’m sure they don’t want their products associated with tobacco use and intoxication among young adults,” said James Copple, director of the International Institute for Alcohol Awareness, in a statement.

R.J. Reynolds has been in hot water before for targeting youth with its products. In 1997, the company was forced to drop its Joe Camel cartoon character after the Federal Trade Commission charged it with unfair advertising practices. And in 2004, in another action by Lockyer, R.J. Reynolds agreed to pay a $11.4 million penalty to end a lawsuit by the state, which claimed Camel ads and other cigarette ads placed in such magazines as Spin, Hot Rod and InStyle were targeting teens.