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Tamara Moore, manager of media relations at
Manhattan-based Altria Corporate Services Inc.,
a services division of Altria Group, said Camilleri
already had addressed the nurses’ concerns
in his presentation. “So, the impression
might have been that he was not responding to
their questions. I think he had felt that he
had answered many of the questions,” she
said.
According to Moore, “I think our chairman
welcomes the comments that he gets from people
in attendance who may share a different perspective
than his own, but in order for us to align with
society’s expectations, basically, we have
to hear what those expectations are. The nurses
have one perspective on our businesses, while
other stakeholders might have another. We certainly
welcome their perspective, not just as shareholders
but also as stakeholders — people who have
a vested interest in our business.”
Moore, who attended the meeting, says she was “glad” to
see the nurses there and hear them share their
perspectives. “Obviously, as the chairman
said and I would say to anybody talking about
a loved one that they’ve lost, my first
reaction is that, ‘I’m sorry to hear
about your loss.’”
The nurses also used the opportunity to garner
media attention. They mingled with the press,
talking with reporters from Reuters, Dow Jones,
and others, and were involved in a press conference
with other protesters, including the American
Cancer Society and a group of youth.
Shareholder resolutions
In addition to raising
awareness for their cause, the nurses tried,
as shareholders, to have
an effect on health-related shareholder resolutions.
One of them had to do with whether to improve
warnings for women of childbearing age about
the effects of smoking on pregnancy and infants.
Another addressed the use of the terms “lights” and “ultra
lights,” which are deceptive, according
to Malone. “One had to do with filters
and the fact that the industry has known for
40 years that fibers from the filters fall
out during smoking and get sucked into users’ lungs,
where they lodge and cause problems. The change
would be to address this in terms of a warning.
“And the fourth [resolution] was whether
to use Canadian-style health warnings on packages,
here and elsewhere. Canadian health warnings
take up about 40% of the cigarette package’s
front and back and they have graphics, including
pictures of diseased lungs and other things that
spell out much more clearly what happens when
you use this product.”
Is smoking a choice?
Moore said she doesn’t
know if the Nightingales’ goal
of an all-out ban on cigarette advertising is
a reality. “I know that Philip Morris USA
and Philip Morris International are both working
to market their products in the most responsible
way that they can. After the tobacco settlement
agreement here in the United States, they’ve
gone above and beyond what the marketing restrictions
were that were dictated by the settlement,” Moore
said.
One example, according to Moore, is that the
cigarette maker could advertise on the backs
of certain magazines but chooses not to because
the ads would be so accessible to children’s
eyes. Philip Morris, she said, is the only tobacco
company to actively support federal regulation
of the tobacco industry.
“We also supply ample information on our
website about the very real public health risks
associated with smoking,” she said. “Tobacco
is a legal product in this country, and we want
adults who choose to smoke (and again, the key
word is for adults to make the most informed
decision).”
Malone, though, questions the industry’s
motives.
“The fact is that we know most people
take it up as teenagers or very young adults,
before they’re really aware of what sort
of choice they’re making,” she said. “The
industry’s marketing materials consistently
portray people as young, healthy, dynamic, and
having fun. They don’t portray people sitting
hunched on the edge of a bed trying to grab for
the slightest bit of breath. Now that’s
truth in advertising.”
Using Federal Trade Commission figures, Malone
says the five largest tobacco companies spent
more than $11.22 billion in 2001, or $1.2 million
dollars an hour, 24 hours a day, on the advertising
and promotion of cigarettes.
Malone says she would like to have 500 nurses
on the next trip to a tobacco industry shareholders
meeting.
Looking back, she says the trip was well worth
the expense and effort. “I think what we
accomplished was we planted the seed for nurses
to take on Big Tobacco,” Malone says. “And
I think if anyone in this country could make
a difference, it would be nurses.”
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