07/29/09 - Big Tobacco says sorry, Utica
Altria Inc, agrees with Mayor Roefaro in personal letter from Sr. VP, removes tobacco ad that targeted children at the ice cream cooler of gas station near school
Lorillard also sends Roefaro a letter, suggests mayor wrote for ‘other reasons’
July 29, 2009- (Utica, NY) – This past May, Mayor Roefaro spent an evening with his 14 year old daughter. It wasn’t your typical father daughter bonding experience, but it certainly got the attention of big tobacco.
Last May, the mayor spent that evening going around the city and photographing examples of what he called, ‘subliminal marketing’ by big tobacco, marketing that specifically subjected kids to tobacco ads.
The next day, the mayor announced his support for U.S. Senate bill S. 982, the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act, a bill that would protect the public health by granting the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products. He used those pictures to prove why the bill was important.
He also spent part of that day writing big tobacco, specifically: Lorrilard, Altira, and Reynolds American, including the pictures with his letters asking the companies to leave Utica’s kids out of their equation to create replacement smokers.
Well, the bill subsequently passed. Roefaro praised its passage, but the ads in city gas stations remained unchanged, hanging ubiquitously between the 4 and 5 foot level.
Until about a week ago…..
Last week, the mayor received a letter from Altria’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Peter Paoli.
In the letter, Altria explained that they identified the retail outlet where photos were taken. They explained, “The store was not under contract with U.S. Smokeless Tobacco at that time,” and that this was the reason for the oversight.
Altria also agreed with the mayor’s letter in that, “It was not appropriate for the retailer to have placed a sign near an ice cream cooler.”
Lorrilard CEO, Martin Orlowsky, also responded to the mayor’s letter. He reassured the mayor that they ‘work very hard to tailor marketing efforts to adult smokers only,’ and suggested the mayor’s letter was ‘perhaps written for other reasons.’
Mayor Roefaro said his letter was written for just one reason.
“I took the photos, and wrote big tobacco so they could see for themselves that they’re not doing the best they can to monitor advertising. I wrote with hopes they’d work harder to protect kids, at least in Utica,” the mayor said.
What’s most reassuring though?
Since Roefaro has sent his letters and photos to big tobacco, every store depicted in the pictures has either moved their ads to new locations within the store, or removed them all together.
“I’ve never named the locations or the stores by name, so it’s reassuring to know that big tobacco found them on their own, investing some time in Utica to rectify my concern,” he said.
“The ad that sat on top of the ice cream cooler really broke my heart at the time. It was blatantly put there to catch the eye of a child deciding between an ice cream sandwich or a Popsicle, and worst, it was within walking distance of a school,” the mayor added.
“It felt good to walk in last week and not see that ad for Skoal Chewing Tobacco at all.”
The mayor also said he would be sending Altria Inc. a ‘thank you’ letter for their efforts.
Reynolds American has yet to respond to the mayor’s letter or his photographs.
