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Adamant Denial. The recent proliferation of new brands and the flightiness of consumer loyalties have played havoc with the old-line cigarette market. Camels are 37% below 1952, Luckies are down 39%, Chesterfields 57%, Lorillard's Old Gold 58% and Philip Morris 71%. Only Pall Mall among the nonfilters has gained, is running 25% ahead of 1952.
Despite the fact that the health issue is at the heart of the matter, the industry continues to deny adamantly any direct or "causal" cancer-smoking link. It has spent $3,700,000 to set up the Tobacco Industry Research Committee, which is widely regarded as only a smokescreen for the industry. But fortnight ago two reports came out from medical groups partly financed by the committee, holding that 1) smoking taxes damaged hearts, and 2) tobacco users absorb 90% of the nicotine to which they are exposed.
Dr. Ernest Wynder of Manhattan's Sloan-Kettering Institute, who, with Dr. Evarts Graham, started the cancer controversy by inducing cancer in mice with daubings of tobacco tar, is only one of many prominent medical authorities (including the Surgeon General of the U.S. and the public health services of Britain and The Netherlands) who now believe that the link between smoking and cancer is definite. Last week the World Health Organization identified cigarettes as a major cause of lung cancer. Many smokers themselves are convinced of the link; in a worldwide poll, 33% of them said they thought smoking was one cause of cancer —though they kept right on smoking.
Their attitude was summed up by Comedian Joe E. Lewis, who said that he became so nervous from reading stories about cigarettes and health that he decided to give up reading.
Have filters helped? Dr. Wynder thinks they have, fears that the FTC's decision to end the filter race was a mistake that "may have discouraged the industry's efforts toward improving their cigarettes," set back the increased protection the smoker has received since 1952. He thinks that far safer cigarettes can be developed.
Actually, filters—with their psychological assurance to smokers—have helped the tobacco industry in other ways too.
They cost less than the tobacco they displace, sell for more, allow the use of stronger, cheaper tobacco in cigarettes.
Most companies also use reconstituted or homogenized tobacco (formerly unusable stems and leaves that are pulverized and re-pressed), which was pioneered by Reynolds and copied by the industry. The average filter cigarette now contains about 14% reconstituted tobacco. Many tobaccomen feel that filters, because they have less flavor and often burn faster, actually make people smoke more.
All the Same? Despite all the claims and counterclaims, says W. P. Hedrick, tobacco marketing specialist for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, "all the companies buy the same tobacco.
They may have slightly different formulas, but essentially all cigarettes are the same." What makes the difference is flavor —each company has its secret recipe—and heavy advertising. The tobacco industry is the nation's fourth biggest advertiser (after food, autos, soap), spends more than $200 million a year. Reynolds has the biggest budget (more than $50 million), gets more benefit from it by concentrating only on its three top brands.