Florida's SWAT Asks Brown & Williamson to Adopt Youth Marketing Guidelines; Company Admits that Sponsoring Teen-Oriented Concert Tours is Wrong.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 1999--

Florida's SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) ended their three-day Board of Directors meeting in Jacksonville yesterday, a meeting that included a landmark discussion with a representative of Brown & Williamson Tobacco.

At the meeting, SWAT asked the company to adopt SWAT's Guidelines for Reducing Youth Exposure to Tobacco Marketing. In addition, Brown and Williamson admitted that they should discontinue their sponsorship of concerts whose audience is mainly teens.

Corky Newton, vice president, corporate & youth responsibility programs at Brown and Williamson, said that SWAT's request to discontinue sponsorship of concert tours featuring mostly teen-oriented bands, "Is reasonable....We're making a concerted effort to pick a type of sponsorship that's adult-oriented, not youth-oriented."

"We were pleased that Brown & Williamson was willing to face teens directly to hear our thoughts on how to avoid advertising and promotion efforts that target youth," said Tim Guiliani, the 17 year-old Chair of the SWAT Board of Directors. "They can take another positive step in the ongoing effort to stop youth smoking by adopting the SWAT guidelines. We've given them 30 days to get back to us, and we hope to hear that they are ending marketing efforts targeted to teens by adopting the Guidelines."

The SWAT Board of Directors urged Brown & Williamson to stop activities that market tobacco to youth, eliminate practices that provide youth access to tobacco, and reform public education practices. The Guidelines address practices such as: -- Advertising in magazines with significant youth readership; -- Sponsoring concerts and events that attract a youth audience; and -- Using distribution channels (such as direct mail and the

Internet) that do not provide a way to verify the buyer's age.

In addition, SWAT advised Brown & Williamson to emphasize the addictive and deadly quality of tobacco in public education materials and to discontinue efforts to sponsor education programs in schools.

The full list of guidelines is attached.

As part of the Big Tobacco on the Run advocacy activity, underway in Florida since August, SWAT youth have been tearing tobacco ads from magazines with significant youth readership and returning them to tobacco companies along with a letter inviting the company to review and adopt the SWAT-developed Guidelines for Reducing Youth Exposure to Tobacco Marketing.

Nearly 9,000 ads, each of which was plastered with a neon orange "Rejected. Rebuffed. Returned." sticker, were returned to the tobacco companies, and Brown & Williamson responded by offering to attend the SWAT Board meeting and discuss the Guidelines. "SWAT let the tobacco industry know that teens will not accept tobacco advertising that targets them," said Frank Penela, a spokesman for the Florida Tobacco Pilot Program.

"Brown & Williamson's high-level response shows that teens are their own best advocates in challenging the tobacco industry's advertising tactics," said Jennifer Jackson, Brevard County SWAT Boad of Directors member. Brown and Williamson contacted Jennifer in response a package of ads they received from Brevard County as part of Big Tobacco On the Run.

The Florida Tobacco Pilot Program was created by the state's $13 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in August 1997. In the year since its inception, it has been credited with reducing youth smoking by 10 percent statewide. For more information on the Florida Tobacco Pilot Program, visit www.state.fl.us/tobacco. -0-

               Guidelines for Reducing Youth Exposure to
                           Tobacco Marketing

1.   Stop marketing tobacco to youth

     --   Use only black and white, text-only advertising in magazines
          with significant youth readership (defined as either
          1,000,000 youth readers or 10% youth readership).

     --   Discontinue advertising and promotion of company name or
          brands at retail outlets.

     --   Eliminate company and/or brand sponsorship of concerts and
          events that attract a youth audience, including advertising
          and distributing company or brand promotional items at such
          events.

2.   Eliminate youth access to tobacco

     --   Reform all packaging to eliminate two-for-one give-aways.

     --   Insist that retailers place all Brown & Williamson tobacco
          products behind the counter.

     --   Eliminate all forms of distribution which do not have
          reliable age verification systems, including vending machine
          sales, direct mail and internet sales, and the use of
          toll-free numbers with messages that appeal to youth and
          subsequent give-aways.

3.   When conducting public education on the risks of tobacco use,
     Brown & Williamson will follow the guidelines below.

     --   In all publications for public distribution, admit that
          tobacco is addictive and kills people.

     --   Submit distribution plans and draft materials produced for
          youth to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to
          be evaluated for effectiveness, and make any revisions
          requested by the CDC to such materials before distribution.

     --   Include on the outside package of all tobacco products a
          comprehensive list of all ingredients cigarettes contain and
          all health effects caused by smoking, including the
          percentage of smokers who experience such ill effects.

     --   Discontinue efforts to place company produced or sponsored
          education presentations in schools.

     --   Discontinue efforts to obtain state support for distribution
          of company-sponsored education curricula in schools.