Daily Doc: RJR, OCT 6, 1982: Price impact on 12-17 year olds
Daily Doc: Price impact on 12-17 year olds
Title: IMPORTANCE OF PRICE IMPACT BY AGE/SEX TO TOTAL INDUSTRY.
RJR, OCT 6, 1982
Bates #: 500141827 -1833
April 11, 2000
A portion of this R.J. Reynolds document examines the effect that the Fairness Doctrine had on cigarette sales among youth ages 12-17. The Fairness Doctrine was a law that required television stations to give equal time to opposing viewpoints. John Banzhaf of ASH was the first to insist that this measure be applied to cigarette ads in the 1960s. His efforts resulted in the first anti-smoking ads on American TV. In the words of this document, "[T]he Fairness Doctrine...loaded television with anti-smoking commercials from 7/67 through 12/70." These counter ads WERE NOT produced by the tobacco industry.
The document notes that these ads had an "important negative effect during [the Fairness Doctrine's] first year (accounting for a 3 percentage point drop in 12-17 incidence)." My interpretation of this is that strong counter-advertising (that is NOT produced by the industry) results in a marked decline in initiation of youth smokers.
Interestingly, while the tobacco industry constantly reassures legislatures and the public that advertising does not cause children to smoke, this RJR document clearly states that:
Cigarette advertising on TV was found to partially offset the Doctrine effects.
How could that possibly be if tobacco ads have no effect on the overall incidence of youth smoking? And if ads don't cause children to start smoking, why is RJR examining the effect of the Fairness Act on smoking incidence among 12 years olds? Do they think that most smokers begin the addiction even younger than that?
CITATION
Title: IMPORTANCE OF PRICE IMPACT BY AGE/SEX TO TOTAL INDUSTRY.
Type of Document: Report
Author: N/A
Date: 19821006
Site: R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Co, Document Site http://www.rjrtdocs.com/
Page Count 7
Bates No. 500141827 -1833
URL: The RJR site does not support transfer of URL's. To find this document, go to the RJR document site and enter as basic search criteria the phrase "Importance of Price Impact"
QUOTES (from page six of the document)
NBER PRICE ELASTICITIES AMONG YOUTH 12-17
Reported Reported "Total Demand"
Incidence Rate (inc x rate)
Total 12-17 -1.19 -.25 -1.44
The Fairness Doctrine was also found to have an important negative effect during its first year (accounting for a 3 percentage point drop in 12-17 incidence), but showed diminishing returns during its second and third year. Cigarette advertising on TV was found to partially offset the Doctrine effects. Thus, the absence of TV advertising after 1970 was implicitly a negative effect, but the absence of the Fairness was a larger implicit positive.
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Anne Landman, Regional Program Coordinator
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction, CO
(970) 245-2120
afoxland@gj.net
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