Public Relations Activities of TIRC/CTR

In December 1953, Timothy Hartnett, President of B&W, summarized the crisis of the industry in the following terms:

But cancer research, while certainly getting our support, can be only half an answer. . . . The other side of the coin is public relations . . . [which] is basically a selling tool and the most astute selling may well be needed to get the industry out of this hole. . . . It isn't exaggeration that no public relations expert has ever been handed so real and yet so delicate a multi-million dollar problem. . . . Finally, one of the roughest hurdles which must be anticipated is how to handle significantly negative research results, if, as, and when they develop.

¶1005039779-9783 (US 20190); Brandt WD, 55:22-56:11.

From the outset, the dual functions of TIRC -- public relations and scientific research

¶-- were intertwined. Ernest Pepples, in an internal B&W letter dated April 4, 1978, acknowledged:

Originally, CTR was organized as a public relations effort. The industry told the world CTR would look at the diseases which were being associated with smoking. There was even a suggestion by our political spokesmen that if a harmful element turned up the industry would try to root it out.

¶680212421-2423 at 2422 (US 54024); 682338651-8653 (US 22899).

One name initially proposed for TIRC/CTR, the "Tobacco Industry Committee for Public Information," reflected its public relations purpose. However, John Hill of the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton expressed skepticism that a public relations strategy that simply argued that the harms of cigarette smoking were "unproven" would succeed. Such a campaign might appear self-interested in the face of the serious health concerns being raised. Brandt WD, 54:11-19. As a result, Hill suggested that the industry should sponsor new research and use

[t]he word "research" . . . in the name of the Committee to establish the fact that the group will carry on or sponsor fundamental scientific research and will not be solely an information agency.

¶TLT0900422-0430 at 0424 (US 88169); TLT0901541-1545 at 1542 (US 87225); TLT0901546-1549 (US 88191).

A white paper titled "A Scientific Perspective on the Cigarette Controversy" was one of the first public relations projects undertaken by Hill & Knowlton on behalf of its new client, TIRC. TLT0901688-1707 (US 88386). Hill & Knowlton/TIRC undertook the project because Defendants felt it necessary and urgent

to present to leaders of public opinion the fact that there was no unanimity among scientists regarding the charges against cigarettes.

¶TLT0902041-2064 at 2054 (US 88360). The twenty-page booklet consisted of published quotations from some three dozen scientists and researchers who denied that there was any proof that linked smoking and lung cancer or who questioned the validity of statistical methods and the conclusions drawn from recent laboratory experiments with mice. TLT0901688-1707 (US 88386); TLT0902041-2064 at 2054 (US 88360), (US 88364); CTRMN004924-4927 (US 21152).

205,000 copies of "A Scientific Perspective on the Cigarette Controversy" were released on April 14, 1954. CTRMN004924-4927 (US 21152). The booklet was sent to 176,800 doctors, as well as to deans of medical and dental colleges. TLT0902954-2955 (US 88388). The booklet with a press release went to a press distribution of 15,000, including: editors of daily and weekly newspapers, consumer magazines, veterans magazines, and medical and dental journals; news syndicate managers; business editors; editorial and science writers; radio and television commentators; news columnists; and Members of Congress. Id.; CTR-TIRC-MIN000001-0252 at 0006, 0007,¹⁰¹⁰ All of these studies will be discussed in much greater detail in Section IV, infra. -17- (JD 093292); TLT0900159-0161 (US 87720).