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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. |
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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." |
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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." |
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INDIANA |
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