Major Networks Decline to Air Truth's Latest Ad

By Mike Beirne Brandweek.com

The American Legacy Foundation's latest "Connect truth" TV spot recently took to the airwaves but will not be seen by viewers of Fox, CBS and ABC programming because those networks declined to accept the ad. Dr. Cheryl Healton, ALF president and CEO, said she may instruct the foundation's attorneys to seek the Federal Trade Commission's involvement in the matter.

The dispute involves the "Laffin's Kids" ad, part of a campaign created by Arnold Worldwide, Boston, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami which tells real-life stories of people whose lives were affected by tobacco. The opening scene shows a young man holding court among a crowd in front of a Loews theater. He quotes a 1989 internal tobacco company marketing report saying, "We believe that most of the strong, positive images for cigarettes and smoking are created by cinema and television."

The execution then cuts to a montage of snapshots where an orange line connects to a photo of two Laffin sisters who explain that their mother, Pam, started smoking when she was ten years old after seeing a movie ("Grease" is the film which is not mentioned in the ad) that made her think smoking was cool. Laffin died at 31 of emphysema.

"Is this the strong positive image that the tobacco industry was talking about," says one of the daughters.

Fox did not comment by press time but Healton and Christopher Cullen, ALF evp-marketing and communication, said Fox representatives contended the ad was unfair and disparaging to the TV and movie industries. CBS -- which did run ALF's "Shards of Glass" ad during the Super Bowl telecast -- informed the foundation that the spot was controversial and de facto advocacy, which needed to be balanced by the entertainment industry's point of view. A CBS spokesman confirmed the statement and declined to elaborate.

ABC also declined to comment. Cullen explained that that network's reticence is the result of Loews appearing in the ad and whether the paperwork ALF submitted from the theater owner demonstrated sufficient permission to have the brand name in the spot.

Healton added that labeling "Laffin's Kids" advocacy is wrong because studies such as a Dartmouth Medical School finding published last year show that 50% of youth smoking initiation can be traced to movies that show characters puffing cigarettes.

Healton mentioned the networks' refusal to air the ad during her testimony last week at a Senate Subcommittee on Competition, Foreign Commerce and Infrastructure hearing regarding smoking in movies. The foundation is among groups supporting the World Health Organization proposal that would assign an R rating to any film that shows or implies tobacco usage except when the dangers of tobacco use are demonstrated or to depict a real historical figure who smoked.

Healton's subcommittee presentation included a foundation study that found 60% of youth exposure to smoking came from films rated G, PG and PG-13 and 82% of the top grossing PG-13 movies released between May 2002 and May 2003 included main characters who smoked. Healton noted in a Brandweek interview that it was "curious" their prevalent cigarette product placement in film and in TV trailers for movies after the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, which forbid paid placement. The MSA signed between the attorney generals of 46 states and big tobacco manufacturers set the ground rules for how manufacturers could and could not promote their cigarettes.