Tobacco.org

• Research on Teenage Smoking 

In this 1974 letter, pollster Burns ("Bud") Roper of the Roper Organization describes to William Kloepfer (President of the Tobacco Institute) a stealthy way his firm could survey children to help the Institute find out "the extent to which kids smoke."

Roper suggests the Institute

"offer to enter into a cooperative study with the Cancer Society, Heart Association of whoever" as cover to conduct a personal interview study among 12-17 year olds. Roper then suggests a method of conducting interviews with children that would evade parents' eavesdropping and (he hopes) avoid parental objections to the line of questioning. . . .

We would design and administer about a fifteen minute questionnaire which would be "kid-oriented". It might deal with such things as clothing styles, pop singers, recreational activities, etc.

About the thirteenth minute of the fifteen minute interview would be devoted to a list of activities about which two questions might be asked.

Thus, to the kids and any eavesdropping parents, these two questions would be incidental to the study. From your point of view, of course, they would be the entire study..."

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