Letter to schools from Delaine Eastin, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, on Philip Morris' 'Think! Don't Smoke' book covers
Letter to schools from Delaine Eastin, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, on Philip Morris' 'Think! Don't Smoke' book covers
November 27, 2000
Dear County and District Superintendents:
The purpose of this communication is to alert all California school, county, and district superintendents of an attempt by Phillip Morris to promote its corporate identity and consequentially its products to students through the unsolicited shipment of free illustrated book covers. California schools have recently reported to the California Department of Education and the California Attorney General's Office the receipt of these unsolicited book covers. Furthermore, the Department expects that these covers may be provided to many and perhaps all of the school districts in California. I am concerned, as are other government officials and leaders in the public health field, that the dissemination of these book covers represents an attempt by a major manufacturer and marketer of tobacco products to circumvent its settlement agreement by fostering sales to youth by covert means.
As a condition of the Attorney General's settlement with the tobacco companies, Phillip Morris is prohibited from advertising to youth. In spite of this, Primedia's Cover Concepts Marketing Services is distributing 13 million "free" book covers on behalf of Phillip Morris. The inclusion of the Phillip Morris name on the cover unequivocally promotes the Phillip Morris brand name and provides a de facto marketing benefit to its tobacco products. Furthermore, a careful review of the covers raises additional concerns. The cover designs contain imagery that appears to carry a subliminal pro-smoking message. Unfortunately, in the press of business it would be easy for district and/or school personnel to miss these problems and, however well-intentioned, end up assisting Phillip Morris in its promotional endeavor by distributing these covers to students.
Please alert the appropriate people in your districts to not accept these unsolicited mailings from Primedia's Cover Concepts. If the mailing has already been received, and the materials distributed to students, I urge you to get the message to site administrators, teachers, nurses, counselors, and others to have students return the covers to the school. Furthermore, this could provide a useful opportunity to organize a classroom lesson and activities around the history of the tobacco companies targeting youth with an addictive and deadly substance. Already, one school district had students tear the covers up and ship them back to the sender with a strong message of disapproval.
County and District Superintendents
November 27, 2000
Page 2
If you or any of your employees have questions or would like to discuss this matter with Department staff, they may contact any of the regional consultants in the Healthy Kids Program Office. The names of these staff and their phone numbers are listed below:
Ruth Bowman (916) 657-5434 Northeast
Bruce Gordon (916) 657-2858 Bay/Valley
Rae Kine (916) 657-5433 Costa Del Sur/Los Angeles
D.J. Peterson (916) 657-4782 Southern/RIMS
Greg Wolfe (916) 657-3040 North Coast/Capitol
Myra Young (916) 657-3369 South Bay/Delta
This issue has been covered by some newspapers. You may also hear from local chapters of tobacco control organizations, such as the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association on this topic. I urge you to take immediate action to thwart this attempt by the Phillip Morris Tobacco Company to reach kids with their message.
Sincerely,
DELAINE EASTIN
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
DE:bg
bcc: Ada for Delaine
Kathy Lewis for chron
Wade Brynelson
Gerald Kilbert