Next week, the American Legacy Foundation (Legacy), the national tobacco control organization formed as a result of the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in 1998, will be giving Time, Inc. an award at its dinner for helping the American Legacy Foundation reach a national audience in support of the foundation s educational and awareness campaigns.(1) Corporations that advance tobacco control should be recognized and applauded for their work. However, as Time, Inc. accepts millions of dollars from the tobacco industry in order to promote cigarettes (sometimes in particularly questionable ways) in some of the country s most popular magazines, Time, Inc. s status as a respectable model of tobacco control work is dubious. Furthermore, as Legacy refuses to fund those who receive support from tobacco manufacturers, distributors, or other entities even remotely related to tobacco, the award is quite ironic. (2)
The invitation to Legacy s event attempts to justify the award as follows: it notes that Time, Inc. supported the first Circle of Friends (a Legacy group) Mini 10K last summer, and has provided a platform for Legacy at the FORTUNE Summit. It discusses steps by other divisions of Time Warner (such as CNN and Warner Bros.) to advance tobacco control. It also states that Legacy is gratified that a selection of Time, Inc. s magazines including Real Simple, Baby Talk, Health, Cooking Light, and Parenting do not accept any tobacco product advertising.
While Time, Inc. has taken some steps to support tobacco control, it is shocking that the corporation is being given a high-profile award for its advancement of the cause. Time, Inc. s four most highly-circulated magazines - TIME (its flagship magazine), Family Circle, People, and Sports Illustrated - which reach a paid circulation of over 15 million readers combined (and therefore bring in much advertising revenue), all promote smoking through their cigarette ads. (3)
It is not just that Time, Inc. s major magazines promote smoking, but that some have done so in particularly egregious ways. TIME and People recently featured advertisements for new candy-flavored cigarettes. Cool & Minty or Warm & Toasty. There s only one season to indulge in both, said a Camel ad about the winter MochaMint and warm winter toffee flavored cigarettes. Advertisements for these cigarettes, which are probably particularly appealing to young people, are at best irresponsible for portraying a deadly product as candy; at worst, they are in violation of the MSA s prohibition against directly or indirectly targeting youth with cigarette advertisements. (4) Ironically, in its description of another award recipient, Sherri Watson Hyde of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN), the Legacy invitation notes that, The NAATPN, in collaboration with other organizations including the American Legacy Foundation, is working hard to raise awareness of the tobacco industry s marketing of flavored cigarettes which may especially appeal to young and minority consumers.
The mere presence of cigarette advertisements in two of Time, Inc. s most popular magazines is especially controversial. People and Sports Illustrated have high numbers of youth readership, to the extent that even Philip Morris suspended their cigarette advertisements from them years ago by adopting the Food and Drug Administration s proposed standards for significant youth readership (a maximum of 15% youth readership, or 2 million youth readers) in order to comply with the MSA. However, as other cigarette companies have adopted less stringent standards, the magazines continue to carry cigarette ads. (5) One obvious way to avoid continually exposing young readers to these potentially influential ads is for the magazines themselves to decide not to accept them (as some other high-circulation magazines, such as Reader s Digest and Good Housekeeping, have voluntarily done).
It is conspicuous and odd that the invitation notes Legacy s gratification with the absence of tobacco advertisements in some of Time, Inc. s less widely read magazines, such as Baby Talk. Because of the implication that Legacy takes note of and cares about the presence of these advertisements in their honoree s publications, the question about the award becomes even more pointed: why is Legacy honoring a corporation that is supported by cigarette companies in order to promote cigarettes in its most popular magazines sometimes in especially questionable ways?
In a conversation about these concerns, Dr. Cheryl Healton, President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation, acknowledged that there is room for improvement in Time s messages about smoking. She noted, however, that the award by Legacy is for their progress in the field of tobacco control. According to Dr. Healton, Time, Inc. deserves recognition for allowing Legacy to leverage its presence in the media.
In my opinion, however, despite some positive steps by Time, Inc., its blatant and extremely questionable promotion of smoking in its high-circulation magazines makes it unworthy of a high-profile accolade for advancing tobacco control. Hopefully, however, by the time Legacy honors Time, Inc. on February 28 for its support of Legacy s anti-tobacco message, Time will demonstrate such a commitment by deciding to cease promoting cigarettes in its widely read publications. At this time, however, the Legacy award seems premature, and given Legacy s current grant policy implying that those who accept any money from tobacco-related entities are automatically tainted by such funds, hypocritical.
Rivka Weiser is a research intern at the American Council on Science and Heath and the author of Smoking and Women s Magazines: 2001-2002.
(1) All quotes about Time, Inc. by Legacy are from the invitation to the 2005 American Legacy Foundation Honors event that ACSH received.
(2) Known as Clause 12. For example, see page 4 of Guidelines for Small Innovative Grants program.
(3) Audit Bureau of Circulations, Paid Circulation in Consumer Magazines for six months ended December 31, 2003. From www.AdAge.com
(4) Others involved in tobacco control have set up an online petition (prior to knowing about the ironic recognition of Time, Inc. by Legacy) calling for a policy change or boycott of Time, Inc. due to these candy-flavored cigarette ads.
(5) New restrictions on the placement of cigarette advertisements by R.J. Reynolds in magazines based on their youth readership are in place as of January 1, 2005. While the restrictions may change the number of cigarette ads in some Time, Inc. publications, the change does not indicate that Time, Inc. or the publications themselves have changed their policies regarding cigarette ads.