BIG TOBACCO STRIKES BACK, AND LEGISLATORS BACK OFF

Ads Credited With Delaying Senate Vote on Bill

WASHINGTON --- The tobacco lobby has pulled off a surprising public
relations coup and won a round on Capitol Hill this week, thanks in part to
the televised image of a harried, sweaty waitress with earrings the size of
onion rings who leans into the camera and sighs: "I'm no millionaire. I
work hard. Why single me out?"

That commercial, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is part of a
major advertising and lobbying campaign that has been remarkably successful
in turning what tobacco opponents view as a bill that would discourage
teenage smoking into a tax issue ahd an assault on working stiffs who
cannot afford to pay more for cigarettes.

The campaign, by the tobacco industry and its allies, includes the purchase
of television time in at leasl 50 major media markets, and lobbyists on
both sides say it was a big factor in the decision to postpone a Senate
vote on the bill, originally scheduled for Thursday.

Both sides described the delay. which will last until after Congress retums
next month from recess, as at least a shortterm gain tor the tobacco industry.

Scott Williams, a spokesman for the industry. called the postponement a
victory for reality.'

Linda Crawford of the American Cancer Society said: "We've got a stalled
bill. If they had really wanted to protect kids and not the tobacco
industry, we'd have had a vote today. Their ads have been effective."

TV ads sponsored by the tobacco companies use "man on the street"
interviews---of one sentence or less--- with real working people who oppose
the bill. One features an exploding cuckoo clock that says, "Washington has
gone cuckoo again. Washington wants to raise the price of cigarettes so
high there'll be a black market in cigarettes with an unregulated access to
kids." The industry's print ads say: "Big taxes, big government. There they
go again."

One thing the ads do not even try to do is buff up the industry's image.
"You don't have to like the tobacco industry to have real concerns about
where Washington is headed," a print ad says.

The American Cancer Society is running a relatively modest countercampaign,
with a TV ad featuring Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former surgeon-general,
saying: "When you see the advertising from the tobacco industry, consider
the source. These people are experts at manipulation, and have been Iying
to the American people for decades."

The Senate bill would, among other things, raise the price of cigarettes by
$1.10 a pack over the next five years and require companies to pay
penalties if youth smoking did not decline.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski