I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4279
To require studies by the Federal Trade Commission of whether tobacco
advertisements target women and minorities to promote smoking, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 21, 1994
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD (for herself, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Mrs. UNSOELD,
Ms. Harman, Ms. SCHENK, Ms. WATERS, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. FOGLIETTA,
Ms. FURSE, Mr. TORRES, Mr. SERRANO, Mrs. MINK, Mr. UNDERWOOD,
Ms. ESHOO, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´, Mr. SYNAR, and Ms.
SHEPHERD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To require studies by the Federal Trade Commission of
whether tobacco advertisements target women and mi-
norities to promote smoking, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tobacco Advertising
and Promotion Studies Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
(a) ADVERTISING.—The Congress makes the follow-
ing findings respecting advertising of tobacco products:
(1) The tobacco industry spends over $4 billion
annually to advertise and promote cigarette prod-
ucts.
(2) Since 1964, the tobacco industry has had a
voluntary advertising code which it claims was im-
plemented to sufficiently ensure against children and
teenagers being encouraged to smoke cigarettes and
which, according to the tobacco industry, prohibits
the advertising of cigarette products from making
implied or direct health claims.
(3) The voluntary advertising code which the
tobacco industry claims is a sufficient safeguard
against improper advertising and marketing prac-
tices recommends that cigarette advertising shall not
suggest that cigarette smoking is ‘‘essential’’ to sex-
ual attraction, success, sophistication, or good health
and that models in cigarette advertisements shall be
at least 25 years of age and shall not be made to
appear under such age.
(4) Despite the existence of, and alleged compli-
ance by the tobacco industry with, the voluntary ad-
vertising code, a number of studies have shown that
cigarette advertising may be an important factor in
encouraging youth, women, and minorities to take
up the cigarette smoking habit and may reinforce
decisions to continue to smoke.
(b) WOMEN.—The Congress makes the following
findings respecting women and tobacco:
(1) The fastest growing sector of smokers in
the United States are women under the age of 23.
Approximately 2,000 girls and young women smoke
their first cigarette every day.
(2) It is expected that between the years 2005
and 2010, the number of women dying from smok-
ing related diseases will exceed the number of men
so dying.
(3) Each year tobacco kills more than 147,000
women in the United States, mostly through ciga-
rette smoking induced heart disease, lung cancer,
and other lung diseases.
(4) As smoking by women has increased, lung
cancer in women has skyrocketed. In 1987 lung can-
cer surpassed breast cancer as the leading cancer
killer of women.
(5) Women who smoke as little as 1 to 4 ciga-
rettes each day increase their risk of heart attack by
2 to 3 times.
(6) In 1991 for the first time in more than a
decade the prevalence of smoking among women ac-
tually increased rather than decreased.
(7) Women who smoke cigarettes during preg-
nancy increase the risk for low birth weight and pre-
mature infants, miscarriage, stillbirths, sudden in-
fant death syndrome, and infant mortality.
(8) Pregnant women who smoke deliver babies
an average of one-half inch shorter and 7 ounces
lighter than the babies of nonsmoking mothers.
There is a 25 to 50 percent higher rate of fetal and
infant death among women who smoke during preg-
nancy compared with those who do not smoke. It is
estimated that 4,000 infants die each year because
of their mother’s smoking.
(9) Approximately 44 percent of all women who
currently smoke have attempted to quit smoking in
the past year.
(10) Cigarette smoking increases women’s risk
of contracting cervical cancer.
(c) MINORITIES.—The Congress makes the following
findings respecting minorities and tobacco:
(1) Tobacco use by African-Americans is re-
sponsible for nearly 48,000 deaths each year in the
United States.
(2) Tobacco companies aggressively target
members of the African-American community and
the growing Hispanic population, particularly in the
urban, inner-city environment.
(3) As of 1991, 29.2 percent of African-Amer-
ican adults (aged 18 and older) smoked cigarettes,
including 35.1 percent of African-American men and
24.4 percent of African-American women.
(4) As of 1991, 16 percent of Asian/Pacific Is-
lander adults (aged 18 and older) smoked cigarettes,
including 24.2 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander men
and 7.5 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women.
(5) As of 1991, 31.4 percent of American In-
dian/Alaskan Natives adults (aged 18 and older)
smoked cigarettes, including 27.9 percent of Amer-
ican Indian/Alaskan Natives men and 35.2 percent
of American Indian/Alaskan Natives women.
(6) As of 1991, 20.2 percent of Hispanic adults
(aged 18 and older) smoked cigarettes, including
25.2 percent of Hispanic men and 15.5 percent of
Hispanic women.
(7) African Americans suffer from tobacco-re-
lated disease at a higher rate than whites, including
a higher incidence of respiratory system, esophagus,
and oral cavity cancers.
(8) Lung cancer is increasing among Hispanic
men.
SEC. 3. TOBACCO ADVERTISING STUDIES.
(a) STUDIES.—The Federal Trade Commission shall
conduct the following studies which should be based on
existing studies and on significant original market
research:
(1) WOMEN AND MINORITIES.—A study of cur-
rent tobacco advertising to determine—
(A) if and in what forms such advertising
and promotion uses themes, graphics, and tech-
niques which are likely to appeal specifically to
(i) girls and women and (ii) minorities in ways
that make smoking attractive to them, and
(B) whether targeting girls, women, and
minorities increases tobacco use.
In connection with such study, advertising of alco-
holic beverages shall be reviewed to determine the
extent to which such advertising targets girls and
women and minorities.
(2) WEIGHT LOSS AND MAINTENANCE.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—A study of current cig-
arette advertising and promotion to investigate
the targeting of girls and women in cigarette
advertising and promotion and tobacco compa-
nies’ use of messages in their advertising and
promotion, explicitly or implicitly, concerning
weight loss and weight maintenance, the word-
ing and overall imagery used in such advertis-
ing and promotion and its impact on girls and
women, and the perception of girls and women,
including smokers and non-smokers, of the rela-
tion between the use of tobacco and weight con-
trol and maintenance.
(B) TERMS AND IMAGERY.—In conducting
the study under subparagraph (A), the Federal
Trade Commission shall examine the following:
(i) Whether women interpret the use
of the terms ‘‘slim’’, ‘‘light’’, ‘‘thin’’,
‘‘superslim’’, and related terms and the
shape of cigarettes employing such terms
as implying that cigarette smoking results
in weight loss or weight maintenance.
(ii) Whether girl’s and women’s inter-
pretation of such terms and imagery accu-
rately reflects the actual effect of cigarette
smoking on weight. In particular, whether
girls and women are knowledgeable about
the transient and reversible nature of any
smoking induced weight loss, the precise
magnitude of weight loss which may be ex-
perienced upon the taking up of smoking,
and the precise magnitude of weight gain
which may be experienced upon smoking
cessation.
(iii) The relative impact of cigarette
smoking on the health of girls and women
and whether or not girls and women are
knowledgeable about the impact of smok-
ing on their health.
(iv) Whether the Federal Trade Com-
mission has authority to take action with
respect to advertising and promotion using
such terms and imagery.
(v) To the extent that the Federal
Trade Commission does not have the au-
thority to take needed action, what legisla-
tion is needed to enable the Commission to
take action necessary to fully remedy the
study’s findings.
(3) LOW YIELD TOBACCO PRODUCTS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—A study of current cig-
arette advertising and promotion to investigate
the apparent targeting of girls and women and
tobacco companies use of messages concerning
so called low tar/low nicotine cigarettes (here-
after in this paragraph referred to as ‘‘low yield
cigarettes’’). This shall include the wording and
overall imagery used in advertising and pro-
motion for low yield cigarettes and the impact
of such advertising and promotion on both male
and female user’s perception of the relative risk
of smoking such cigarettes as opposed to the
smoking of non low yield cigarettes or quitting
smoking.
(B) TERMS.—In conducting the study
under subparagraph (A), the Federal Trade
Commission shall examine the following:
(i) Whether men and women tend to
interpret messages and imagery used in
the advertising and promotion of low yield
cigarettes to indicate that smoking such
cigarettes is less hazardous than smoking
other cigarettes. The Commission shall
look at consumer’s perception of a wide
range of health risks, including cardio-
vascular disease, lung and other cancers,
pulmonary diseases, risks during preg-
nancy, risk of environmental tobacco
smoke exposure to surrounding individuals,
and other risks and attempt to quantify
the degree of risk reduction perceived by
the reasonable consumer. In addition, the
Commission shall examine whether the per-
ception of male and female smokers differ
in this regard.
(ii) Whether men’s and women’s inter-
pretation of the wording and imagery used
in advertising and promotion of low yield
cigarettes, as determined under clause (i),
accurately reflects the health hazards of
cigarettes.
(iii) Whether men and women who
smoke are likely to be influenced to smoke
low yield cigarettes rather than quit smok-
ing because of the advertising and pro-
motion of such cigarettes. In this regard,
the Commission shall examine whether
smokers tend to differ according to wheth-
er or not they report being concerned
about smoking’s negative impact on their
health and whether male and female smok-
ers tend to differ from each other in this
regard.
(iv) The relative likely impact of
smoking of low yield cigarettes on men’s
and women’s health relative to quitting
smoking.
(v) Whether the Federal Trade Com-
mission has the authority to take action
with respect to advertising and promotion
of low yield cigarettes.
(vi) To the extent that the Commis-
sion does not have the authority to take
needed action, what legislation is needed to
enable the Commission to take action nec-
essary to fully remedy the study’s findings.
(4) DEMOGRAPHICS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—A study of the demo-
graphics of targeted audiences of cigarette ad-
vertising and promotions which appear to be
targeted at girls, women, and minorities, includ-
ing the age, gender, race, ethnicity, and socio-
economic groups of the girls, women, and mi-
norities and, in the case of minorities, the de-
mographics of such advertising and promotions
for smokeless tobacco products.
(B) FOCUS.—In conducting the study
under subparagraph (A), the Federal Trade
Commission shall identify—
(i) the media used to apparently tar-
get the groups described in subparagraph
(A), including the types of publications
used with their demographic profile, in-
cluding the demographic profile of readers
under the age of 18,
(ii) the types of promotions used, giv-
ing information about specific venues, and
(iii) the amount of money spent in
each category.
(b) REPORT.—The Federal Trade Commission shall
complete each of the studies identified in subsection (a)
not later than 9 months after the date of the enactment
of this Act and shall, not later than 12 months after such
date, report to the Congress—
(1) the results of such studies,
(2) whether the Federal Trade Commission has
the authority to take action on the study’s findings,
(3) any actions the Commission proposes to
take on the basis of such findings, and
(4) to the extent that the Commission does not
have the authority to take needed action, what legis-
lation is needed to enable the Commission to take
action necessary to fully remedy the study’s findings.
Æ