A couple of things lately have reminded me of some of the outstanding advertising campaigns of the past. There are some great ones now, the lizard, the duck, the kids feeling cheated ...
It’s good to see car companies perking up. Ford has been getting good reviews, and its Fusion has been named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year. Makes me remember the big billboard signs with the beautiful girl in the convertible, with the words: “Watch the Fords go by!” And, right after the war, when new cars were being (literally) fought over, the big crystal ball with just the snout of the ‘46 showing, and the words, “There’s a Ford in Your Future.”
Chevy’s best advertising was Dinah Shore singing, “See the USA in your Chevrolet ...” For Packard, it was “Ask the Man Who Owns One.” And “When better cars are built, Buick will build them.”
Tobacco companies were the most inventive. But right now, a member of the Reynolds family (Camels) is on a crusade to end smoking. And word is out that EAMC (that’s East Alabama Medical Center, not East Alabama Male College, where some of us went to school) is cutting out smoking even in the parking lot. Quite a change from when Ted Williams endorsed Camels and “More doctors recommend Philip Morris ...”
Fellow named ... what is his name, Hill, Mesa, Ridge ... some kind of high ground, is very upset about it. You mean I can’t even smoke in my truck with the windows closed? Fume, fume,fume.
I used to smoke. Started off on Luckies (So round, so firm, so fully packed), but I felt sorry for the Reynolds family and switched to Camels (I’d walk a mile for a camel)’til I quit, cold
turkey, never to smoke again.
Funny how you’d pick a certain brand. Uncle Jeff smoked Raleighs. Uncle Grady smoked Old Golds. Frosty’s dad smoked Camels. Cousin James smoked Chesterfields (“Smoke dreams from smoke rings, while a Chesterfield burns ...”) Our hired man smoked Country Gentleman through the week, Prince Albert on weekends. As we worked together, I’d quiz him about why he liked certain brands. The tobacco business fascinated me.
When I was growing up, the men at Mt. Pisgah, between Sunday School and preaching, would step outside for a smoke. Cigarettes were as ubiquitous as men’s hats.
When I quit smoking, the mother of my grandkids who are in college was a baby. Unlike most ex-smokers, it doesn’t bother me to be around smokes, which are, like men’s hats, a vanishing breed.
But stubborn ones like Hill, Mesa, whatever, will, as Tex Williams said, make St. Peter at the Golden Gate wait, while they have another cigarette.
понедельник, 30 ноября 2009 г.
четверг, 26 ноября 2009 г.
Man takes cigarettes at knifepoint from Sun Valley store
Washoe County sheriff's deputies are looking for a man who robbed a Sun Valley store early Monday morning.
About 1:40 a.m., the man entered the Bi-Rite market, 5690 Sun Valley Boulevard, and asked the clerk for a pack of cigarettes. The clerk told the man how much they cost, and the man placed a dollar bill and some change on the counter and said, "This is all I have."
The suspect put his leg on the counter, revealing a large, black-handled knife. He took the cigarettes and went east on Sun Valley Boulevard, deputies said.
The suspect was described as Hispanic, in his 30s, about 5-foot-7, with dark hair and a dark goatee and wore a gray, long-sleeve shirt, dark pants and silver glasses.
About 1:40 a.m., the man entered the Bi-Rite market, 5690 Sun Valley Boulevard, and asked the clerk for a pack of cigarettes. The clerk told the man how much they cost, and the man placed a dollar bill and some change on the counter and said, "This is all I have."
The suspect put his leg on the counter, revealing a large, black-handled knife. He took the cigarettes and went east on Sun Valley Boulevard, deputies said.
The suspect was described as Hispanic, in his 30s, about 5-foot-7, with dark hair and a dark goatee and wore a gray, long-sleeve shirt, dark pants and silver glasses.
понедельник, 23 ноября 2009 г.
Cigarette butts toxic to fish, say researchers
Cigarette butts are toxic to fish and should be labeled as toxic hazardous waste, U.S. researchers say.
Scientists at San Diego State University say that a single cigarette butt containing a small amount of unburnt tobacco is enough to contaminate a litre of water and kill half of the fish swimming in it.
"Based on this new research, we believe that cigarettes should be considered toxic waste and new requirements need to be established for how they are disposed," Tom Novotny, a public health professor at San Diego State University, said in a statement.
The researchers tested the toxicity of the tobacco on fresh and saltwater fish: fathead minnows and top smelt — two species that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency typically uses in pollution studies.
The cigarette butts were left soaking in the water for a day before fish were placed in it for testing.
Whole cigarettes and cigarette butts with unburnt tobacco were found to be the most toxic, but even filters that had been smoked and that had no tobacco left on them were found to be toxic.
Cigarette filters are made of cellulose-acetate, which does not biodegrade.
The researchers presented their conclusion at a meeting of the American Public Health Association in Philadelphia earlier this month, and have submitted their study for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Cigarette butts are considered the most littered item in the world. Novotny recently estimated that 767 million kilograms of cigarette butts — or about 4.5 trillion butts — end up as litter every year.
Scientists at San Diego State University say that a single cigarette butt containing a small amount of unburnt tobacco is enough to contaminate a litre of water and kill half of the fish swimming in it.
"Based on this new research, we believe that cigarettes should be considered toxic waste and new requirements need to be established for how they are disposed," Tom Novotny, a public health professor at San Diego State University, said in a statement.
The researchers tested the toxicity of the tobacco on fresh and saltwater fish: fathead minnows and top smelt — two species that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency typically uses in pollution studies.
The cigarette butts were left soaking in the water for a day before fish were placed in it for testing.
Whole cigarettes and cigarette butts with unburnt tobacco were found to be the most toxic, but even filters that had been smoked and that had no tobacco left on them were found to be toxic.
Cigarette filters are made of cellulose-acetate, which does not biodegrade.
The researchers presented their conclusion at a meeting of the American Public Health Association in Philadelphia earlier this month, and have submitted their study for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Cigarette butts are considered the most littered item in the world. Novotny recently estimated that 767 million kilograms of cigarette butts — or about 4.5 trillion butts — end up as litter every year.
среда, 18 ноября 2009 г.
Perata's cigarette tax measure finds First 5 foes
Fresh out of the gate, a ballot measure to raise cigarette taxes for cancer research proposed by former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata is taking heat from early childhood education advocates who rely on tobacco taxes, too.
Perata — a 2010 Oakland mayoral candidate — had hoped this California Cancer Research Act, launched at a news conference Monday, would garner good publicity and widespread public support as a war on Big Tobacco. Instead, some say, it could end up facing united opposition from tobacco companies and the education advocates who warred with them 11 years ago.
California law already called for a cigarette tax of up to 12 cents per pack, paid into the state's general fund, by the time voters approved Proposition 99 of 1988, which added a 25-cent-per-pack tax to fund tobacco-related health education and disease research, hospital care for the indigent, park and wildlife restoration and other causes.
When producer, actor and director Rob Reiner put his successful Prop. 10 on the ballot in 1998 — a 50-cent-per-pack tax to fund early childhood education via a new "First 5 California" bureaucracy — he included a "backfill" provision. This required the state to compute how much the new tax would reduce cigarette sales, and transfer a cut of the new Prop. 10 revenue to offset the decrease in Prop. 99 and general fund revenue.
Perata's proposed measure includes a backfill provision for Prop.99 and the general fund but not Prop. 10, so this new $1-per-pack tax would drain tens of millions of dollars from early childhood education across the state by suppressing cigarette sales with out replenishing Prop. 10 losses, Prop. 10 campaign manager and longtime Reiner political consultant Chad Griffin said Tuesday.
That won't sit well with education advocates, labor unions and others who backed Prop. 10 against tobacco companies' $30 million campaign onslaught, he said.
"Unless this is corrected, and hopefully this was a mistaken omission and can be refiled quickly ... I think you'd see a wide coalition of people including Rob Reiner and children's health and education groups across the state actively opposing something that ideally we'd be supporting," Griffin said — a big problem for the measure "given the unity needed to beat Big Tobacco" next year.
But the omission was no mistake.
"While we admire and support the goals of First 5, we had to recognize as we put this initiative together that we're living in an era of limits, where only one in 10 promising research proposals is getting the funding it needs," said longtime Perata campaign consultant Paul Hefner. "We came down on the side of providing the greatest possible support for research that will save lives and protect Californians, and we think our proposal made the right call."
The Prop. 10 cigarette tax now generates about $500 million per year, and some critics have accused First 5 California and its 58 county counterparts of sitting on or mismanaging much of that while many state programs fall to the budget-cut ax. Still, 66 percent of voters in May's special election rejected Prop. 1D, which would've redirected $1.7 billion of Prop. 10 revenue into the general fund over five years.
"I have absolutely no issue with a tobacco tax initiative to support tobacco related illness ... That is not the issue at all, and I don't want to be seen in a kids-versus-cancer scenario," First 5 Contra Costa Executive Director Sean Casey said Tuesday. "But there is a time-honored practice when an initiative is put forward to honor the previous initiatives that may be affected by it."
His commission expects about $9.4 million in Prop. 10 tax revenue this year, anticipating a 5 percent to 8 percent reduction from last year because of a 60-cent-per-pack federal cigarette tax increase that took effect in April. An additional $1-per-pack hike from Perata's measure, he assumes, could mean another hit of up to 10 percent.
Casey said his agency just finished developing a five-year, $70 million strategic plan to fund services from community resource centers to home visits for mothers of newborns to scholarships for early preschool. That plan draws down savings put away in earlier years of Prop. 10 funding, in anticipation of the gradual and predictable decline in smoking — a prediction that could be rendered useless by the new tax measure.
"We will feel it in Contra Costa, it will be real, and this is just not the time for that," Casey said.
Perata said Monday he expects tobacco companies will "empty the vault" to oppose this measure. Spokesmen for tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris voiced their opposition later Monday, and the California Taxpayers Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said they'll probably oppose it, too.
Perata — a 2010 Oakland mayoral candidate — had hoped this California Cancer Research Act, launched at a news conference Monday, would garner good publicity and widespread public support as a war on Big Tobacco. Instead, some say, it could end up facing united opposition from tobacco companies and the education advocates who warred with them 11 years ago.
California law already called for a cigarette tax of up to 12 cents per pack, paid into the state's general fund, by the time voters approved Proposition 99 of 1988, which added a 25-cent-per-pack tax to fund tobacco-related health education and disease research, hospital care for the indigent, park and wildlife restoration and other causes.
When producer, actor and director Rob Reiner put his successful Prop. 10 on the ballot in 1998 — a 50-cent-per-pack tax to fund early childhood education via a new "First 5 California" bureaucracy — he included a "backfill" provision. This required the state to compute how much the new tax would reduce cigarette sales, and transfer a cut of the new Prop. 10 revenue to offset the decrease in Prop. 99 and general fund revenue.
Perata's proposed measure includes a backfill provision for Prop.99 and the general fund but not Prop. 10, so this new $1-per-pack tax would drain tens of millions of dollars from early childhood education across the state by suppressing cigarette sales with out replenishing Prop. 10 losses, Prop. 10 campaign manager and longtime Reiner political consultant Chad Griffin said Tuesday.
That won't sit well with education advocates, labor unions and others who backed Prop. 10 against tobacco companies' $30 million campaign onslaught, he said.
"Unless this is corrected, and hopefully this was a mistaken omission and can be refiled quickly ... I think you'd see a wide coalition of people including Rob Reiner and children's health and education groups across the state actively opposing something that ideally we'd be supporting," Griffin said — a big problem for the measure "given the unity needed to beat Big Tobacco" next year.
But the omission was no mistake.
"While we admire and support the goals of First 5, we had to recognize as we put this initiative together that we're living in an era of limits, where only one in 10 promising research proposals is getting the funding it needs," said longtime Perata campaign consultant Paul Hefner. "We came down on the side of providing the greatest possible support for research that will save lives and protect Californians, and we think our proposal made the right call."
The Prop. 10 cigarette tax now generates about $500 million per year, and some critics have accused First 5 California and its 58 county counterparts of sitting on or mismanaging much of that while many state programs fall to the budget-cut ax. Still, 66 percent of voters in May's special election rejected Prop. 1D, which would've redirected $1.7 billion of Prop. 10 revenue into the general fund over five years.
"I have absolutely no issue with a tobacco tax initiative to support tobacco related illness ... That is not the issue at all, and I don't want to be seen in a kids-versus-cancer scenario," First 5 Contra Costa Executive Director Sean Casey said Tuesday. "But there is a time-honored practice when an initiative is put forward to honor the previous initiatives that may be affected by it."
His commission expects about $9.4 million in Prop. 10 tax revenue this year, anticipating a 5 percent to 8 percent reduction from last year because of a 60-cent-per-pack federal cigarette tax increase that took effect in April. An additional $1-per-pack hike from Perata's measure, he assumes, could mean another hit of up to 10 percent.
Casey said his agency just finished developing a five-year, $70 million strategic plan to fund services from community resource centers to home visits for mothers of newborns to scholarships for early preschool. That plan draws down savings put away in earlier years of Prop. 10 funding, in anticipation of the gradual and predictable decline in smoking — a prediction that could be rendered useless by the new tax measure.
"We will feel it in Contra Costa, it will be real, and this is just not the time for that," Casey said.
Perata said Monday he expects tobacco companies will "empty the vault" to oppose this measure. Spokesmen for tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris voiced their opposition later Monday, and the California Taxpayers Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said they'll probably oppose it, too.
понедельник, 16 ноября 2009 г.
Cigarette firm halts trendsetter marketing
British cigarette maker Imperial Tobacco has stopped using young Dutch trendsetters to promote smoking, the NRC reports.
The food and product safety authority had decided to investigate the marketing scheme in which 60 artists, designers and other hip twentysomethings were paid in Gauloise cigarettes to come up with marketing ideas.
The 60 artists, spread over Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and the Hague had to sign a contract pledging to keep the agreement secret. In return for attending three marketing meetings a year, they were paid 'compensation' of €960 in the form of two cartons of cigarettes a month.
The company denies it is using trendsetters to try to get other smokers to switch brands. 'Our interpretation is that we are sticking to the law,' the paper quoted a spokesman as saying.
In Dutch law, tobacco companies are not allowed to give away cigarettes or advertise them.
Among the young smokers who signed the contract with Imperial Tobacco are designers Bas Kosters and Daryl van Wouw as well as singers and clothes store owners, the paper says.
Designer Tomas Overtoom told the NRC when it broke the story last weekend: 'The brainstorming session is really a cover to get a whole group of people to smoke these cigarettes. Manufacturers are tied to the rules which is why this is so clever. It is a new form of marketing.'
The food and product safety authority had decided to investigate the marketing scheme in which 60 artists, designers and other hip twentysomethings were paid in Gauloise cigarettes to come up with marketing ideas.
The 60 artists, spread over Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and the Hague had to sign a contract pledging to keep the agreement secret. In return for attending three marketing meetings a year, they were paid 'compensation' of €960 in the form of two cartons of cigarettes a month.
The company denies it is using trendsetters to try to get other smokers to switch brands. 'Our interpretation is that we are sticking to the law,' the paper quoted a spokesman as saying.
In Dutch law, tobacco companies are not allowed to give away cigarettes or advertise them.
Among the young smokers who signed the contract with Imperial Tobacco are designers Bas Kosters and Daryl van Wouw as well as singers and clothes store owners, the paper says.
Designer Tomas Overtoom told the NRC when it broke the story last weekend: 'The brainstorming session is really a cover to get a whole group of people to smoke these cigarettes. Manufacturers are tied to the rules which is why this is so clever. It is a new form of marketing.'
четверг, 12 ноября 2009 г.
FDA Goes After Online Sales of Flavored Cigarettes
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning more than a dozen online cigarette sellers that they may be in violation of the new regulations against selling most types of flavored cigarettes to U.S. citizens and have 15 days to prove that they have stopped those sales or risk government action.A ban on the U.S. sale of cigarettes flavored with anything other than menthol went into effect on Sept. 22 as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
That law, enacted in June, gives the FDA power to regulate the content of tobacco products, along with the marketing and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, and the impact of ads for those products on young people. The new law also lets the FDA limit the amount of nicotine in products and block labels such as “light” and “low tar” that appear to offer “healthier” cigarettes.
The warning letters went out to 14 owners of Web sites that the FDA says are still offering the banned flavored cigarettes for sale to U.S. customers, according to Internet searches conducted by its own Office of Enforcement and by its new Center for Tobacco Products, a division created within the FDA in August to administer the new tobacco ad and promotion policies and review applications for the exemption of new tobacco products.
The FDA sent a previous letter to the tobacco industry at large on Sept. 14 reminding them of the flavored-cigarette ban and stating that company selling the banned products would be subject to enforcement.
This latest round of notices went out to individual merchants, some located in the United States and some based overseas but selling to U.S. citizens through their Web sites. All the letters cite the language of the new bill that “A cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”
If the products listed for sale on the merchants’ Web sites do contain such flavorings, the letters say, they are adulterated tobacco products and subject to FDA penalty. If they don’t, they are misleadingly labeled and also subject to FDA penalty.
Merchants not based in the U.S. who received FDA letters were told that the agency will work to have their shipments into the U.S. stopped at customs, and that the FDA will notify authorities in their home countries that their banned products will not be allowed into the U.S.
The FDA’s enforcement effort is part of its initiative to prevent children and adolescents from taking up the smoking habit—something they can be lead into by candy- or fruit-flavored tobacco products, as well as marketing aimed at young audiences.
“FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously,” Center for Tobacco products director Lawrence Deyton said in a release. ”These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use.”
In related news, a U.S. District Court ruled a week ago that tobacco companies have little chance of blocking enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention Act on the grounds that it restricts their free speech rights to market new tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco and so-called “electronic cigarettes.”
R. J. Reynolds, which markets the Camel cigarettes product line, and Lorillard Inc., maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, filed suit against the law Aug. 31 in Richmond, VA, along with several other smaller tobacco marketers. In its filing, Reynolds asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction against the law, arguing that it impaired “their First Amendment right to communicate with adult tobacco consumers about their products.” If granted, the ruling would have prevented the FDA from enforcing the law while the plaintiffs pursued their broader case against it.
But U.S. District Court Judge Joseph McKinley denied the injunction on Nov. 5, saying that the “plaintiffs have little likelihood of success” in challenging the provisions of the law governing new “modified-risk” tobacco products.
The ruling means the tobacco makers will have to comply with the FDA’s new manufacturing and marketing regulations while the plaintiffs’ lawsuit moves forward.
That suit contends that the new law prohibits their use of “color lettering, trademarks, logos or any other imagery in most advertisements, including virtually all point-of-sale and direct-mail advertisements.” They also allege that new, more prominent health warnings on package fronts and cartons will relegate their branding to the bottom half of cigarette packaging and make it difficult, if not impossible, to see.”
That law, enacted in June, gives the FDA power to regulate the content of tobacco products, along with the marketing and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, and the impact of ads for those products on young people. The new law also lets the FDA limit the amount of nicotine in products and block labels such as “light” and “low tar” that appear to offer “healthier” cigarettes.
The warning letters went out to 14 owners of Web sites that the FDA says are still offering the banned flavored cigarettes for sale to U.S. customers, according to Internet searches conducted by its own Office of Enforcement and by its new Center for Tobacco Products, a division created within the FDA in August to administer the new tobacco ad and promotion policies and review applications for the exemption of new tobacco products.
The FDA sent a previous letter to the tobacco industry at large on Sept. 14 reminding them of the flavored-cigarette ban and stating that company selling the banned products would be subject to enforcement.
This latest round of notices went out to individual merchants, some located in the United States and some based overseas but selling to U.S. citizens through their Web sites. All the letters cite the language of the new bill that “A cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”
If the products listed for sale on the merchants’ Web sites do contain such flavorings, the letters say, they are adulterated tobacco products and subject to FDA penalty. If they don’t, they are misleadingly labeled and also subject to FDA penalty.
Merchants not based in the U.S. who received FDA letters were told that the agency will work to have their shipments into the U.S. stopped at customs, and that the FDA will notify authorities in their home countries that their banned products will not be allowed into the U.S.
The FDA’s enforcement effort is part of its initiative to prevent children and adolescents from taking up the smoking habit—something they can be lead into by candy- or fruit-flavored tobacco products, as well as marketing aimed at young audiences.
“FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously,” Center for Tobacco products director Lawrence Deyton said in a release. ”These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use.”
In related news, a U.S. District Court ruled a week ago that tobacco companies have little chance of blocking enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention Act on the grounds that it restricts their free speech rights to market new tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco and so-called “electronic cigarettes.”
R. J. Reynolds, which markets the Camel cigarettes product line, and Lorillard Inc., maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, filed suit against the law Aug. 31 in Richmond, VA, along with several other smaller tobacco marketers. In its filing, Reynolds asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction against the law, arguing that it impaired “their First Amendment right to communicate with adult tobacco consumers about their products.” If granted, the ruling would have prevented the FDA from enforcing the law while the plaintiffs pursued their broader case against it.
But U.S. District Court Judge Joseph McKinley denied the injunction on Nov. 5, saying that the “plaintiffs have little likelihood of success” in challenging the provisions of the law governing new “modified-risk” tobacco products.
The ruling means the tobacco makers will have to comply with the FDA’s new manufacturing and marketing regulations while the plaintiffs’ lawsuit moves forward.
That suit contends that the new law prohibits their use of “color lettering, trademarks, logos or any other imagery in most advertisements, including virtually all point-of-sale and direct-mail advertisements.” They also allege that new, more prominent health warnings on package fronts and cartons will relegate their branding to the bottom half of cigarette packaging and make it difficult, if not impossible, to see.”
вторник, 10 ноября 2009 г.
Sandwich swap aims to put bite on smoking
A local anti-tobacco coalition hopes free sandwiches will give smokers that little extra incentive next week to quit, if only for a day.
"It's a starting place," said Darlene Cunningham, director for the coalition.
Free sandwiches will be given away in exchange for half-packages of cigarettes during the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout Event Nov. 19.
This is the first year the Olive Branch YMCA has participated as the new fiscal agent for the state Office of Tobacco Control, Cunningham said. The coalition is sponsoring the sandwich giveaway with Lenny's Sub Shops.
"There are four Lenny's Sub Shops, so we have every section of the county covered," Cunningham said.
"I think it's a good idea," said Bonnie Crenshaw, manager of the Lenny's near the movie theater in Southaven. "I wish everybody would stop smoking."
Regular-size submarine sandwiches will be given away with the purchase of one of equal or lesser value at at 8110 Camp Creek in Olive Branch, 3019 Goodman in Horn Lake, 2408 E. Parkway in Hernando and 7090 Malco Boulevard in Southaven.
Volunteers from the Olive Branch High School Interact Club will be at the Lenny's stores between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again between 5-7 p.m. during the Great American Smokeout to collect surrendered cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
They also will hand out cards with the state Quit Line, a telephone number for smokers to call to get help quitting smoking, including free nicotine patches, Cunningham said.
Having the teens participate in an anti-tobacco event will hopefully encourage their peers to be smoke-free, Cunningham said.
According to the state Department of Health, 19.2 percent of high school students in Mississippi smoke and 22.7 percent of adults smoke.
The mission of local coalitions like the one serving DeSoto and Tate counties includes keeping young people from starting to use tobacco.
The Olive Branch YMCA has been very involved in the health of youth, Cunningham said, for example in fighting childhood obesity.
"This is just one more way to have a healthier community," Cunningham said.
"It's a starting place," said Darlene Cunningham, director for the coalition.
Free sandwiches will be given away in exchange for half-packages of cigarettes during the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout Event Nov. 19.
This is the first year the Olive Branch YMCA has participated as the new fiscal agent for the state Office of Tobacco Control, Cunningham said. The coalition is sponsoring the sandwich giveaway with Lenny's Sub Shops.
"There are four Lenny's Sub Shops, so we have every section of the county covered," Cunningham said.
"I think it's a good idea," said Bonnie Crenshaw, manager of the Lenny's near the movie theater in Southaven. "I wish everybody would stop smoking."
Regular-size submarine sandwiches will be given away with the purchase of one of equal or lesser value at at 8110 Camp Creek in Olive Branch, 3019 Goodman in Horn Lake, 2408 E. Parkway in Hernando and 7090 Malco Boulevard in Southaven.
Volunteers from the Olive Branch High School Interact Club will be at the Lenny's stores between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again between 5-7 p.m. during the Great American Smokeout to collect surrendered cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
They also will hand out cards with the state Quit Line, a telephone number for smokers to call to get help quitting smoking, including free nicotine patches, Cunningham said.
Having the teens participate in an anti-tobacco event will hopefully encourage their peers to be smoke-free, Cunningham said.
According to the state Department of Health, 19.2 percent of high school students in Mississippi smoke and 22.7 percent of adults smoke.
The mission of local coalitions like the one serving DeSoto and Tate counties includes keeping young people from starting to use tobacco.
The Olive Branch YMCA has been very involved in the health of youth, Cunningham said, for example in fighting childhood obesity.
"This is just one more way to have a healthier community," Cunningham said.
пятница, 6 ноября 2009 г.
Earnings Preview: Lorillard Inc.
RICHMOND, Va. — Tobacco maker Lorillard Inc. reports its third-quarter results on Monday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
OVERVIEW: The oldest continuously operating U.S. tobacco company and maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, based in Greensboro, N.C., said in July that it was selling more cigarettes even after it raised prices and a federal tax increase went into effect April 1.
Cigarette volumes at Lorillard, whose brands also include Kent, True, Maverick, Old Gold and Max, increased 2.1 percent for the second quarter, when the company estimated volumes fell 4.1 percent across the industry.
It is the fourth major tobacco company to report on its earnings this month. Altria Group Inc. — owner of the nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, which makes Marlboros — said cost-cutting and higher cigar sales helped its third-quarter profit rise 1.7 percent, even though it sold fewer cigarettes. Altria said its overall cigarette volume fell 12 percent for the quarter, and it estimated a 10 percent drop industrywide.
Reynolds American Inc. — the second-biggest cigarette seller in the U.S. and maker of Camel and Pall Mall — recorded 72 percent higher profit than in last year's third quarter, when restructuring costs and the falling value of its trademarks dampened its earnings. It said its estimated 11 percent drop in volume was better than the industry's decline, which it pegged at 12.6 percent.
Lorillard joined Reynolds and several smaller tobacco companies in suing the U. S. Food and Drug Administration over statements it has made under the new authority it won in June to regulate the tobacco industry. A federal judge in Kentucky is considering the case.
BY THE NUMBERS: Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial on average expect Lorillard to post a profit of $1.52 per share on revenue of $1.32 billion. In the third quarter a year earlier, the company earned $1.38 per share on revenue of $1.12 billion.
ANALYST TAKE: Analysts hope the third quarter sheds light on cigarette volumes for the year as the industry recovers from turbulence surrounding the federal tax increase.
Credit Suisse analyst Thilo Wrede told investors Oct. 13 that despite volume declines he expects Newport to keep gaining market share and he said Lorillard's Maverick brand would post double-digit volume gains.
In a separate note Sept. 21, Wrede said Lorillard is the best U.S. tobacco company.
"Lorillard continues to have the best margins, volume growth outlook and brand equity," Wrede wrote, adding that Maverick is drawing budget-conscious smokers.
WHAT'S AHEAD: The tobacco industry is anticipating more fallout from the FDA's new regulatory authority. Although a ban on flavored cigarettes went into effect last month, the FDA has not clarified how it will treat menthol cigarettes like Lorillard's popular Newport brand. And both Altria and Reynolds American hope to take some of Lorillard's share of the menthol market.
Wall Street will be looking at how further smoking bans, tax increases and regulation could affect cigarette volumes and profitability.
STOCK PERFORMANCE: During the quarter that ended Sept. 30, shares of Lorillard rose about 7.2 percent to $74.30. Over the previous 52 weeks, the stock traded between $52.50 and $79.02.
OVERVIEW: The oldest continuously operating U.S. tobacco company and maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, based in Greensboro, N.C., said in July that it was selling more cigarettes even after it raised prices and a federal tax increase went into effect April 1.
Cigarette volumes at Lorillard, whose brands also include Kent, True, Maverick, Old Gold and Max, increased 2.1 percent for the second quarter, when the company estimated volumes fell 4.1 percent across the industry.
It is the fourth major tobacco company to report on its earnings this month. Altria Group Inc. — owner of the nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, which makes Marlboros — said cost-cutting and higher cigar sales helped its third-quarter profit rise 1.7 percent, even though it sold fewer cigarettes. Altria said its overall cigarette volume fell 12 percent for the quarter, and it estimated a 10 percent drop industrywide.
Reynolds American Inc. — the second-biggest cigarette seller in the U.S. and maker of Camel and Pall Mall — recorded 72 percent higher profit than in last year's third quarter, when restructuring costs and the falling value of its trademarks dampened its earnings. It said its estimated 11 percent drop in volume was better than the industry's decline, which it pegged at 12.6 percent.
Lorillard joined Reynolds and several smaller tobacco companies in suing the U. S. Food and Drug Administration over statements it has made under the new authority it won in June to regulate the tobacco industry. A federal judge in Kentucky is considering the case.
BY THE NUMBERS: Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial on average expect Lorillard to post a profit of $1.52 per share on revenue of $1.32 billion. In the third quarter a year earlier, the company earned $1.38 per share on revenue of $1.12 billion.
ANALYST TAKE: Analysts hope the third quarter sheds light on cigarette volumes for the year as the industry recovers from turbulence surrounding the federal tax increase.
Credit Suisse analyst Thilo Wrede told investors Oct. 13 that despite volume declines he expects Newport to keep gaining market share and he said Lorillard's Maverick brand would post double-digit volume gains.
In a separate note Sept. 21, Wrede said Lorillard is the best U.S. tobacco company.
"Lorillard continues to have the best margins, volume growth outlook and brand equity," Wrede wrote, adding that Maverick is drawing budget-conscious smokers.
WHAT'S AHEAD: The tobacco industry is anticipating more fallout from the FDA's new regulatory authority. Although a ban on flavored cigarettes went into effect last month, the FDA has not clarified how it will treat menthol cigarettes like Lorillard's popular Newport brand. And both Altria and Reynolds American hope to take some of Lorillard's share of the menthol market.
Wall Street will be looking at how further smoking bans, tax increases and regulation could affect cigarette volumes and profitability.
STOCK PERFORMANCE: During the quarter that ended Sept. 30, shares of Lorillard rose about 7.2 percent to $74.30. Over the previous 52 weeks, the stock traded between $52.50 and $79.02.
четверг, 5 ноября 2009 г.
Half of stores sell cigarettes to 15-year-old
TRADING standards bosses last night said they were appalled after 50 per cent of stores in an Oxford Mail test sold cigarettes to a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
A survey of eight newsagents, an off-licence and one post office in Oxford, showed two years after the legal age to buy cigarettes increased from 16 to 18-years-old, many shops were still not asking for identification.
Vanessa Walters, 15, from Bicester, did not try to conceal her age and admitted she was under 18 if challenged at the counter during last week’s test.
The five failures were Quix, in Cowley Road, East Oxford; Littlemore Post Office, in Cowley Road, Littlemore; Martin’s, in Blackbird Leys; Globe Newsmarket, in Iffley Road; and Caspian News, in George Street.
Richard Webb, deputy head of Oxfordshire County Council trading standards, said: “It is appalling that half of the shops failed.
“That is an even higher failure rate than our operations.
“We are disappointed, but from our experience when we conduct interviews with shops that have failed, all their staff are correctly trained and every one knows the law. It is often just down to one member of staff who is not thinking at that time.
“We are glad this operation has been brought to our attention.”
The test-purchase operation was carried out on Friday during the school half-term holiday.
It is not illegal for anyone below 18-years-old to buy cigarettes, but it is against the law for the shop to sell them.
Trading Standards tested 32 premises across Oxfordshire and nine failed during 2008/09.
Since April this year, trading standards have test-purchased 19 businesses. Three have failed.
Any shop which fails three times in a year risks losing its right to sell tobacco.
Amanda Sandford, of anti-smoking campaign group ASH, said: “It is shocking that retailers are still not upholding the law.
“What they are doing is aiding and abetting young people’s potential addiction – for life.”
Staff at the Co-operative Swift Shop, in Walton Street, Jericho; Martin’s, in Banbury Road, Summertown; Balfour News, in Cherwell Drive, Marston; Girdlestone Stores, in Headington; and Just Booze, in Wood Farm, all asked for ID and refused to sell to Miss Walters.
Kiren Turna, manager of Just Booze, said: “If I doubt anyone’s age and they have no ID I refuse to sell to them.”
During an Oxford Mail test purchase operation in November two years ago all 10 shops tested failed.
Quix, in Cowley Road, and Martin’s, in Blackbird Leys, which were two of the shops failed this year, sold cigarettes to a 16-year-old girl.
A survey of eight newsagents, an off-licence and one post office in Oxford, showed two years after the legal age to buy cigarettes increased from 16 to 18-years-old, many shops were still not asking for identification.
Vanessa Walters, 15, from Bicester, did not try to conceal her age and admitted she was under 18 if challenged at the counter during last week’s test.
The five failures were Quix, in Cowley Road, East Oxford; Littlemore Post Office, in Cowley Road, Littlemore; Martin’s, in Blackbird Leys; Globe Newsmarket, in Iffley Road; and Caspian News, in George Street.
Richard Webb, deputy head of Oxfordshire County Council trading standards, said: “It is appalling that half of the shops failed.
“That is an even higher failure rate than our operations.
“We are disappointed, but from our experience when we conduct interviews with shops that have failed, all their staff are correctly trained and every one knows the law. It is often just down to one member of staff who is not thinking at that time.
“We are glad this operation has been brought to our attention.”
The test-purchase operation was carried out on Friday during the school half-term holiday.
It is not illegal for anyone below 18-years-old to buy cigarettes, but it is against the law for the shop to sell them.
Trading Standards tested 32 premises across Oxfordshire and nine failed during 2008/09.
Since April this year, trading standards have test-purchased 19 businesses. Three have failed.
Any shop which fails three times in a year risks losing its right to sell tobacco.
Amanda Sandford, of anti-smoking campaign group ASH, said: “It is shocking that retailers are still not upholding the law.
“What they are doing is aiding and abetting young people’s potential addiction – for life.”
Staff at the Co-operative Swift Shop, in Walton Street, Jericho; Martin’s, in Banbury Road, Summertown; Balfour News, in Cherwell Drive, Marston; Girdlestone Stores, in Headington; and Just Booze, in Wood Farm, all asked for ID and refused to sell to Miss Walters.
Kiren Turna, manager of Just Booze, said: “If I doubt anyone’s age and they have no ID I refuse to sell to them.”
During an Oxford Mail test purchase operation in November two years ago all 10 shops tested failed.
Quix, in Cowley Road, and Martin’s, in Blackbird Leys, which were two of the shops failed this year, sold cigarettes to a 16-year-old girl.
Man fined NT$2,000 for stealing cigarette
TAOYUAN, Taiwan -- You would have to be smoking mad to go to court for a stolen cigarette.
A Taoyuan man felt the burn yesterday when the district court slapped him with a NT$2,000 fine for swiping the cigarette of the man beside him at a local Internet cafe.
According to the Taoyuan District Court, the desperate smoker, surnamed Yuan, 39, was at an Internet cafe last November when the urge to light up arose. Noting the fresh pack of cigarettes on the table beside him and that its owner had fallen asleep, Yuan opened the pack and retrieved a single smoke.
The action alerted the friend of the sleeping man, who shook him awake and blew Yuan's cover. Yuan and the man, surnamed Lin, got into a heated dispute and the police were called.
A lawsuit at the district court level ensued. During the gathering of evidence, prosecutors asked various witnesses within the cafe whether they saw Yuan “take that cigarette?” Yuan was found guilty and charged NT$2,000 for his misdemeanor.
A Taoyuan man felt the burn yesterday when the district court slapped him with a NT$2,000 fine for swiping the cigarette of the man beside him at a local Internet cafe.
According to the Taoyuan District Court, the desperate smoker, surnamed Yuan, 39, was at an Internet cafe last November when the urge to light up arose. Noting the fresh pack of cigarettes on the table beside him and that its owner had fallen asleep, Yuan opened the pack and retrieved a single smoke.
The action alerted the friend of the sleeping man, who shook him awake and blew Yuan's cover. Yuan and the man, surnamed Lin, got into a heated dispute and the police were called.
A lawsuit at the district court level ensued. During the gathering of evidence, prosecutors asked various witnesses within the cafe whether they saw Yuan “take that cigarette?” Yuan was found guilty and charged NT$2,000 for his misdemeanor.
Free Cigarettes Results In Assault
Ruffin, NC -- A man attempting to get free cigarettes from a gas station told deputies the store clerk assaulted him.
Rockingham County Sheriff's Office says a David Kendrick purchased $50 worth of gas from Ruffin Grocery Convenience Store Tuesday night. He saw a sign on the pump saying customers who buy at least $10 in gas would receive a free pack of cigarettes.
Kendrick went inside the store to get his free pack of cigarettes, but the clerk said he wasn't familiar with the offer. The two men got into a verbal altercation, with the clerk demanding Kendrick leave. When he didn't immediately leave the store, the clerk punched kendrick in the ribs.
Kendrick was transported to Anne Penn Hospital. He later obtained a warrant for the arrest of the clerk, Kenneth Stone. Stone is is charged with assault and given a $5,000 bond.
Rockingham County Sheriff's Office says a David Kendrick purchased $50 worth of gas from Ruffin Grocery Convenience Store Tuesday night. He saw a sign on the pump saying customers who buy at least $10 in gas would receive a free pack of cigarettes.
Kendrick went inside the store to get his free pack of cigarettes, but the clerk said he wasn't familiar with the offer. The two men got into a verbal altercation, with the clerk demanding Kendrick leave. When he didn't immediately leave the store, the clerk punched kendrick in the ribs.
Kendrick was transported to Anne Penn Hospital. He later obtained a warrant for the arrest of the clerk, Kenneth Stone. Stone is is charged with assault and given a $5,000 bond.
понедельник, 2 ноября 2009 г.
Tobacco delegation from China to visit NC
RALEIGH, N.C. More than 20 people representing China's tobacco industry are visiting North Carolina to learn more about the state's homegrown product.
State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler will host the 22-person delegation on Saturday afternoon at the State Fair in Raleigh. The delegation will tour the Got to Be NC Agriculture exhibit, the tobacco barn and other exhibits.
Troxler visited China on a trade mission in August. He said he's trying to expand the Chinese market for North Carolina tobacco.
State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler will host the 22-person delegation on Saturday afternoon at the State Fair in Raleigh. The delegation will tour the Got to Be NC Agriculture exhibit, the tobacco barn and other exhibits.
Troxler visited China on a trade mission in August. He said he's trying to expand the Chinese market for North Carolina tobacco.
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