Sample Shareholder Letter
Louis C. Camilleri
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Altria Group, Inc.
120 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017-5592
Dear Mr. Camilleri,
As an Altria shareholder and a nurse, I am writing to ask that you
develop a plan to voluntarily end active marketing and promotion of
tobacco products. Since the company now accepts that cigarettes are
indeed addictive and deadly, the socially responsible thing to do is
to stop promoting their use.
To continue to promote cigarettes is not in line with societal
expectations for a responsible corporation. Our company’s own
surveys show that the public is overwhelmingly in favor of ending
cigarette advertising and believes that cigarette advertisements
misrepresent the true nature of the product and its effects.
Therefore, voluntarily ending active marketing and promotion would,
in fact, achieve genuine “societal alignment” and would send an
unambiguous message to the public that the company is sincere in
caring about the welfare of its customers and the public.
All the funds the company provides to battered women’s shelters,
meals for seniors, etc. cannot possibly compensate for the
cigarette-caused suffering and death witnessed day in and day out by
thousands of nurses in this country and millions worldwide. I would
like to see the company show real leadership in developing and
implementing the “end game” you discussed more than ten years ago.
Please let me know when the company will initiate serious discussion
of this socially critical issue.
Sincerely,