Anne Landman's Daily Document: Uptown Damage Assessment S\udy: A Proposal to Conduct A Nationwide Research Study Among Black Cigarette Smokers to Assess RJR's Image and Its viability of Introducing a Menthol Cigarette Targeted to Blacks.
Daily Doc: Uptown Damage Assessment S\udy:
A Proposal to Conduct A Nationwide Research Study Among Black Cigarette Smokers to Assess RJR's Image and Its viability of Introducing a Menthol Cigarette Targeted to Blacks.RJR, Jan 31, 1990
Bates No. 507174379-4379
February 9, 2000
In 1990, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company attempted to introduce a new brand of menthol cigarette targeted specifically at African-Americans. The brand was called "Uptown." The introduction of Uptown was met with a large, forceful and well-coordinated protest by African-Americans in the areas where it was introduced. The slogan used by the protesters was "Shut Down Uptown."
It appeared for a second in reading this document that the R.J. Reynolds company might have understood the meaning of that protest. It says, in part,
"A white-owned tobacco company, targeting a cigarette to Blacks, a product widely accepted as harmful to one's health, would undoubtedly surface that inherent distrust inevitably described as "institutional genocide."
But the perception of their corporate-sponsored institutional genocide was just a speed bump to these guys. Nothing can stop a tobacco company from targeting a market it really wants to target. The rest of the document goes on to say they can learn from this marketing gaffe and find away around the glitch they ran into with "Uptown" --and provides a road map with which to do it.
CITATION
Title: Uptown Cigarette Damage Assessment Study: A Proposal to Conduct A Nationwide Research Study Among Black Cigarette Smokers to Assess RJR's Image and Its viability of Introducing a Menthol Cigarette Targeted to Blacks.
Type of Document: Proposal
Author: The Wellington Group & Lockhart and Pettus, Inc.
Date: 19900131
Site: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Document site http://www.rjrtdocs.com/
Bates No. 507174379-4379
Page Count: 34
URL: (copy and paste this whole URL into your browser, see if it works). http://www.rjrtdocs.com/rjrtdocs/image_display.wm?PRODUCT=image&PAGE=1&DOC_RANGE=507765929+-5962&IMAGE_SIZE=890&SEARCH=1
NOTE: If the URL doesn't work, you can find this document by going to the RJR site and entering in the "Quick Search" box the phrase Uptown Cigarette Damage Assessment.
QUOTES
Much can be said about the Uptown cigarette debacle. However, even an error of this magnitude can represent a positive thing if one can extract an important lesson to guide his future direction...
...For example, regarding Uptown cigarettes, a representative sample of Black consumers were probably never asked what they thought of the "idea" of a new cigarette specifically targeted at them....
...Had Blacks across various strata been asked to respond to this issue (a cigarette targeted specifically at Blacks), undoubtedly, researchers would have discovered or been reminded of the fact that an underlying distrust exists among blacks for institutions, governments, industries and companies controlled by whites. A white-owned tobacco company, targeting a cigarette to Blacks, a product widely accepted as harmful to one's health, would undoubtedly surface that inherent distrust inevitably described as "institutional genocide."
With good reason, R.J. Reynolds Management has decided to look into the costs and benefits of...a study [that would] assess the amount of damage done to...the image of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company among Blacks. This study would also provide the necessary...marketing strategies designed to help R.J. Reynolds reach its goal of introducing a new menthol cigarette to which Black consumers favorably respond.
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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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