Talking Back To Big Tobacco: Letters From Across America
Tobacco companies spend a fortune
mailing materials to the homes
of smokers or potential smokers. They get names through sign-ups for
contests, at events, mailing lists, subscription lists, membership
lists, etc. They send individuals a wide variety of materials aimed
at keeping them smoking and keeping them smoking specific brands.
The letters featured on this page were found in the tobacco
companies formerly secret documents that were made public after the
1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and
states attorneys general. The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library has
all the documents that have been released,
approximately 7 million
documents.
WISCONSIN "I do not want any literature sent to my
house.
Donald died Sept 24th of emphysema, and as a first class witness I
can truthfully say that is the most scary thing one must go through
to see a loved one on a machine and still crying for help just to
try to keep breathing. You kept them coupons coming which made it
even harder for him to stop smoking…Please stop sending the
literature for these killers."
SOMEWHERE, USA "Today my husband, my son and
myself received advertisement form letters from your company, with a
survey attached. Since my husband and I do not smoke and never did we are not
interested…Our son, on the other hand, used to smoke 2-3 packs…per
day. From time to time he also ordered your free offers and he
probably submitted our names also. Over 2-1/2 years ago, our Chuck
died. He was only 28 years old. As you cannot imagine, we have
suffered much heartache. This evening my husband went to bed drunk.
Later I found the mail. His survey was opened….Please remove our
name from your computer so that this very hurtful experience will
not happen again."
OREGON
"I am a retired nurse and I have nothing but loathing for your company.
You should all be in prison for murder."
LOUISIANA
"Since
you are so interested in statistics, you have one less smoker in the
world. I am sure that is not very important to you; after all, I am
just one person. However, it is extremely important to me…I have
spent the last two months in absolute agony while trying to
quit…This addiction is awful; I had no idea it was going to be this
hard…I think it is unforgivable what you are doing to your fellow
human beings."
INDIANA"I just wanted you to know what your
questionnaire did to my family.
About
a year and a half ago my mother died from cancer of the lungs…She
took so many painkillers she actually hallucinated. December 31 she
died in my arms. At that time she weighed 86 pounds."
There are many more letters just like these available for viewing. Please follow this link to download a PowerPoint slide show and talking points.