|
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Led by Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA), Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA), 41 House Members wrote to the publishers of 11 leading women’s magazines -Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, InStyle, Interview Magazine, Lucky, Marie Claire, Soap Opera Digest, Us Weekly, Vogue, and W- calling on the magazines to voluntarily stop accepting misleading advertising for deadly cigarettes. The letter noted the irony of accepting these advertisements while simultaneously publishing articles offering important women’s health information. The Members were particularly concerned about the publication of ads for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s new cigarette, Camel No. 9, which are clearly targeted at enticing young women to smoke.
“As a nurse, a mother, and a grandmother, I am very concerned about popular women’s magazines accepting the advertising dollars of cigarette manufacturers and turning a blind eye towards the deadly effect these cigarettes have on women,” said Capps, a Member of the Health Subcommittee. “These ads encourage a fatally addictive habit and most disturbingly, they especially target young women. The health consequences of smoking are too profound to be met with either complacency or complicity, and the acceptance of these dangerous ads is clearly inconsistent with women’s magazines’ long tradition of promoting women’s health. It is my hope that these women’s magazines will continue to stand as powerful advocates for women’s health and empowerment by firmly rejecting these dangerous and misleading cigarette advertisements.”
Click here to watch ABC News's story on Congresswoman Capps' efforts to stop these cigarette ads targeting young women.
A copy of the letter is attached:
June 5, 2007
Ms. Anna Wintour
Editor in Chief
Vogue
Four Times Square, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10036
Dear Ms. Wintour:
As Members of Congress dedicated to advancing the health of women and girls, we are writing to express our concern over the marketing of tobacco products to young women through tobacco advertisements in women’s magazines, such as yours.
The epidemic of smoking among teens and young women cannot be overstated. We recognize that Vogue is influential among the millions of young women and girls under 18 who make-up a sizeable portion of your readership. These readers look to your magazine for health advice, information on the latest trends in glamour and style. The public service your magazine provides by offering important women’s health information is negated when, a few pages away, a reader finds an advertisement for a new cigarette marketed just for women.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has recently introduced a new cigarette, Camel No. 9, which is clearly aimed at young women. To our great concern, R.J. Reynolds is heavily relying on leading women’s magazines, including yours, to aggressively market this deadly product to young women, including teenagers. The target audience of young women is abundantly clear from look at Camel No. 9’s chic packaging, and the stylish advertisements with roses and a slogan of “light and luscious.”
R.J. Reynolds claims that the target for Camel No.9 is current adult women smokers. Yet, it advertises Camel No. 9 in magazines like yours that have large numbers of teenage and other young women readers. As the tobacco companies well know, ninety percent of smokers begin before they are twenty and eighty percent begin before their eighteenth birthday. This translates into an astounding 2,000 new teen daily smokers per day. With over a thousand of their customers dying every day from tobacco-related disease, cigarette companies certainly knew their demographic when they referred to teens as “replacement smokers” in their internal documents.
The public health consequences of smoking are neither stylish nor glamorous. Smoking-related cancers kill an estimated 54,000 women each year and approximately 178,000 women die every year from all tobacco-related disease. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. And the most staggering statistic of all – one out of three teen smokers will die prematurely of a tobacco-related disease.
The health consequences of tobacco use are too profound to be met with either complacency or complicity. As Members of Congress, we feel compelled to express our concern to you about how these advertisements are negatively contributing to our nation’s public health. Your refusal to publish cigarette ads would send an unequivocal message to tobacco companies and be consistent with your magazine’s long tradition of promoting women’s health.
Again, we urge you to voluntarily adopt an institutional policy of rejecting cigarette advertising aimed at young women and we look forward to further discussions with you on this matter.
Sincerely,
Cc: Mr. Thomas A. Florio, Vice President/Publisher
***Please note that identical letters were sent to the editors and publishers of the following magazines: Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, InStyle, Interview Magazine, Lucky, Marie Claire, Soap Opera Digest, Us Weekly, and W.
###
|
