Are We Living in a Crazyworld? A New Ad Campaign from truth Shows How Tobacco Companies Act Differently from Other Companies.

Business Editors

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2003

- Recent Survey Shows the Majority of Americans Believe

Ingredients Should Be Listed on Cigarette Packages -

We live in a world where companies are responsible for the safety of their products and are accountable to the public, often issuing recalls to protect consumers from harmful items. Yet a product that kills 1200 people a day sits on the shelves unlabeled and supported by an industry that spends $11.22 billion annually to market and promote it in the United States alone.

truth(R), the largest national smoking prevention campaign for youth, introduces its new Crazyworld campaign to challenge youth to think about how cigarette manufacturers play by a different set of rules than other companies, even though their product kills one-third of people who use it.

Launching on August 28, "Labels," the first spot in the campaign, will air during the MTV Video Music Awards as a sixty second commercial. Set outside a supermarket, the ad features grocery carts overflowing with assorted goods. Similar to a game show, we see a giant clock and a sign above it that reads, "The Ingredients Game." A truth(R) youth hosts the game and invites people to find the product that does not list ingredients. Contestants dig through the carts until the winner finds a pack of cigarettes. The host announces the winner and says, "Cigarettes kill a third of the people who use them, but unlike other products, they don't need to list the ingredients on the label. Welcome to Crazyworld."

A recent telephone survey of 300 adult Americans conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide on behalf of the American Legacy Foundation(R), the foundation that sponsors truth(R), found that the majority (84%) of Americans believe tobacco companies should list ingredients on cigarette packages, compared to a small proportion (11%) who think they should not. The survey also found that a sizeable minority of Americans feel strongly that cigarettes should be recalled (29%) and even banned (24%).

"Recent research shows that eight out of ten Americans believe that tobacco companies should be required to list ingredients on cigarette packages," said Lyndon Haviland, chief operating officer of the American Legacy Foundation(R). "The truth(R) campaign continues to provide startling facts and information to teens about tobacco products and the tobacco industry, and challenges them to make informed choices about a product that kills hundreds of thousands of users and nonusers in the U.S. alone every year."

In addition to "Labels," several new Crazyworld spots will roll out in September and air on broadcast and cable networks including WB, MTV and BET. Crazyworld will be supported with both a Web component online at www.thetruth.com and through print ads that will appear in popular youth-appropriate magazines such as Teen People and Fader in November issues.

Crazyworld was created by Arnold Worldwide of Boston and Crispin Porter & Bogusky of Miami.

In 2003, the truth(R) campaign received the Grand EFFIE - the Oscar of the advertising industry - for the effectiveness of its "Infect truth" campaign and its groundbreaking success in driving down youth smoking prevalence to the current historic lows. The EFFIE Awards, given by the New York chapter of the American Marketing Association, recognize advertising campaigns that deliver superior results in meeting the objectives they were designed to achieve.

The "Monitoring the Future" study released in December 2002 reported declines in smoking rates among 8th, 10th and 12th graders and cited the truth(R) campaign as one of the reasons for this public health victory. The American Legacy Foundation(R), which provides strategic direction and funding for the truth(R) campaign, earlier this year received what is likely its final payment from the National Public Education Fund established by the Master Settlement Agreement. Despite its success, the truth(R) campaign now faces a funding challenge, and the smoking rates of America's youth may not stay at the lowest levels in 28 years without truth(R). truth(R) is needed to counter the $11.22 billion the tobacco industry spent in 2001 to promote and market their products in the U.S. alone.

truth(R) was launched in February 2000 and is the largest national smoking prevention campaign for youth. The campaign exposes the tactics of tobacco marketing and allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the tobacco industry and its products. The campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation(R), which was created as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and 46 states.