Boycott Update
Imagine going to a supermarket every week and filling your cart with only cigarettes, cigars, or chewing tobacco. While such a shopping practice may seem absurd, many consumers unknowingly buy food products made by tobacco companies which helps keep the cigarette-makers in peak financial health.
The U.S. Center For Disease Control reports that 25% of the U.S. population smokes. The ill-effects of tobacco are well-known and widespread, with the World Health Organization estimating that over 3 million people die each year from related illnesses; 400,000 of these deaths in the U.S. alone. A study by an Oregon newspaper reports that medical care for illnesses related to tobacco use costs over $50 billion annually. Yet even with such widespread misery, Boycott Quarterly Magazine points out that tobacco companies continue to market their lethal products by using the tactics of targeting children, finding new foreign markets, spending huge sums on political donations, and paying a pittance of their massive profits for health-related lawsuits.
Decades ago when the storm was first beginning to brew over the health risks of smoking, tobacco companies began to realize that the general U.S. population was becoming more health conscious. To depend solely on profits from tobacco products was not considered to be a wise move. To diversify, tobacco companies began to purchase a number of food companies while at the same time trying to "hide"' the connection to the new parent conglomerate. After all, a can of R.J. Reynolds spaghetti sauce doesn't sound that appetizing.
Boycotts of tobacco companies have been taking place for quite some time with great success. The most visible current tobacco boycott action is that of INFACT, an organization which is demanding that tobacco companies stop marketing to children, halt efforts to market tobacco products internationally, cease deceiving people about the dangers of tobacco, end their interference in public health policy, and fully pay the high cost of health care associated with a nicotine-addicted population.
To participate in a tobacco company product boycott can be somewhat overwhelming due to the number of products R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris, Lorillard and British American Tobacco produce and sell. The most visible tobacco company-owned product lines are Kraft, Nabisco, Post cereals, General Foods, Maxwell House, Ortega, Jell-O, Miller beer, Del Monte, Planters and Oscar Mayer. These products include Lifesavers, Kool-Aid, Lenders bagels, Sanka/Yuban/Master Blend coffee, Log Cabin syrup, Ritz crackers, A-1 steak sauce, Country Time lemonade, Minute Rice, Milkbones dog biscuits, Hawaiian Punch, and even Barnums Animal Crackers.
INFACT, like other boycott organizations, point out that to make an action even more effective, consumers should send letters of protest to the boycott targets.
The address for R.J. Reynolds is 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. Philip Morris can be contacted at 120 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017.
For more information on tobacco boycotts contact INFACT, 256 Hanover Street, Boston MA 02113. General boycott information can be obtained by subscribing to Boycott Quarterly ($20/year), P.O. Box 30727 or on the internet, <http://boycott.2street.com>.
- ROBERT KRZEWINSKI