TheTruth.com
3642748
224324435
2008-07-08T10:13:45Z
Guroadrunner
770510
the truth
{{POV|date=December 2007}}
[[Image:Thetruth com screenshot.png|right|thumb|200px|A page from a "Truth" Web site, with an unreferenced claim about the tobacco industry. Activists are encouraged to load this page on public computers.]]'''TheTruth.com''' is an anti-[[tobacco smoking|smoking]] campaign in the [[United States]]. The campaign is run by the [[American Legacy Foundation]], a nonprofit anti-smoking organization funded by U.S. [[tobacco companies]] under the terms of the 1998 [[Master Settlement Agreement]]. TheTruth.com uses Web, print and television to get its message across.
==Formation==
The Truth campaign was modeled after an anti-smoking campaign in [[Florida]]. <ref name="FloridaTruth">[http://www.social-marketing.org/success/cs-floridatruth.html Social Marketing Institute - Success Stories - Florida "truth" Campaign<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Florida's Office of Tobacco Control formed the Florida Tobacco Pilot Program in 1997.<ref name="FloridaTruth" /> The program set out to drive a wedge between the tobacco industry's advertising and a youth audience. The program not only assembled a team of advertising and public relations firms to develop the marketing portion of the campaign but also directly polled Florida's youth. From this emerged the campaign concept of a youth movement against tobacco companies promoted through grassroots advocacy and a youth-driven advertising campaign.<ref name="FloridaTruth" />
In March 1998, student delegates at a summit sponsored by Florida's Office of Tobacco Control voted to changed the theme of the campaign to "Truth, a generation united against tobacco."<ref name="FloridaTruth" /> In April 1998, Florida launched a $25 million dollar advertising campaign that included 33 television commercials, seven billboards, eight print ads and four posters.<ref name="FloridaTruth" /> Modeling their approach after commercial marketing to teens, the Florida "Truth" campaign incorporated a variety of "in-your-face" styles into its ads, incorporating strategies ranging from edgy-humor to high technology. The ads also depicted real teenagers' opinions on the tobacco industry.<ref name="FloridaTruth" />
In February 2000, the Truth campaign was launched by the [[American Legacy Foundation]], a nonprofit anti-smoking organization founded under terms of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, paid into by Phillip Morris ([[Altria]]), [[Reynolds American]], and [[Lorillard]].<ref>[http://www.arnoldworldwide.com/content.cfm?page=108&id=199 Arnold Worldwide<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The Truth campaign, explicitly modeled after the Florida program, became the first national anti-smoking campaign not directly run by tobacco companies.<ref name="FloridaTruth" /><ref>[http://www.arnoldworldwide.com/content.cfm?page=108&id=199 Arnold Worldwide<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
The Truth campaign is served by ad agencies [[Crispin Porter and Bogusky|Crispin Porter + Bogusky]] and [[Arnold Worldwide]].<ref>[http://tobaccofreedom.org/msa/articles/truth_campaign/truth.html Philip Morris USA Slams 'Truth' Ads<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Marketing style==
The ads are characterized by dramatic camera angles and the use of living people to represent statistical deaths caused by tobacco smoke. Early ads featured street scenes where large buildings are used as symbols for the corporate offices of the tobacco industry as a whole, often surrounded by hundreds of 'dead' youth. As the campaign progressed, the ads became focused on the concept of a slowly spreading realization, showing iconic symbols to indicate that the people who are witnessing these scenes 'get it'. The television commercials use low-tech production methods, and are often narrated or performed in a grass-roots style.
In 2006, the ads took on an urban overtone, utilizing both the Internet address and the slang term '[[List of Internet slang phrases#W|whudafxup]]'.The new theme presents its anti-smoking message in a more intangible, conversational manner, documentary style, often with actor Derrick Beckles. Ads include an interview with a dairy farmer about a tobacco company claim that milk is more harmful than second hand smoke, and interviews with gun store owners analogizing the non-existence of "light" bullets with the harmfulness of even light cigarettes.
In 2008, the television ads have taken on a peculiar new tone. The commercials will start off in a manner consistent with the 2006 ads, but then quickly delve into an upbeat song-and-dance number that states that TheTruth may be too hard on the tobacco companies and that simple mistakes are made (such as typos saying that 5 million people have died from tobacco, claiming it's possibly just 5 hundred), only for the number to end and a member of the group to bluntly state that the chance that mere mistakes have happened are next to impossible. These newer ads tend to have cartoon characters mixed in with the live-action performers during the number.
==Criticism==
The Truth campaign has been subject to criticism over the implications of its advertisements. They are also subject to general criticism regarding the effectiveness of anti-smoking ads.
===Questions regarding racial implications===
In a 2002 editorial in the ''[[Columbia Spectator]]'', conservative commentator Jaime Sneider contended that TheTruth.com attempts "to create the illusion of a racist conspiracy perpetrated by 'Big Tobacco'."{{Fact|date=June 2008}} Sneider notes that some Truth commercials contain the claim that "Tobacco gives black males 50% more lung cancer than white males." Sneider argues, "Obviously, tobacco itself hasn't been engineered to increase the health risk for blacks; therefore, the sentence would more accurately read, 'Black males are 50% more likely than white males to contract lung cancer from tobacco.'"{{Fact|date=June 2008}}
Sneider states that The Truth campaign avoids this phrasing because "the focus of the sentence would then be removed from their object of contempt, and placed on the very people who choose to smoke."<ref>http://www.columbiaspectator.com/?q=node/8956</ref> However, smoking rates among black males are nearly equal to rates among white males,<ref>[http://www.kirotv.com/health/2545789/detail.html?treets=sea&tid=2653932213813&tml=sea_health&tmi=sea_health_1_02150110102003&ts=H Smoking Rates Similar Among Black, White Males - Health News Story - KIRO Seattle<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> despite differences in tobacco-related cancer deaths. Some researchers argue that the difference may be accounted for by socioeconomic factors relating to early reports and treatment of cancer.<ref>http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/news/2004/Lung_cancer.pdf</ref>
==Litigation and complaints==
A Truth campaign radio ad prompted Lorillard Tobacco Company to pursue litigation against the American Legacy Foundation from July 2001 until its resolution in July 2006. The Truth campaign ran a radio ad called "Dog Walker" during June and July of 2001. In the ad, an actor who identified himself as a dog walker placed a phone call to Lorillard, offering to sell Lorillard the urine from his dogs.<ref>http://www.americanlegacy.org/190.html</ref> According to the ad, urine and tobacco both contain [[urea]].<ref>http://www.americanlegacy.org/190.html</ref>
Initially, Lorillard accused the ad agency of violating the laws regarding the taping of telephone conversations and threatened to refer them to the criminal authorities. Lorillard also accused the Truth campaign of including false information in the ad.<ref>http://www.americanlegacy.org/190.html</ref> In October 2001, Lorillard filed a Motion for a Declaratory Ruling with the [[FCC]], asking the FCC to rule that the radio stations’ broadcast of the ad violated an FCC regulation regarding broadcasting of telephone conversations.<ref>http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Public_Notices/da012565.doc</ref>
In November 2001, Lorillard notified the American Legacy Foundation of their intent to litigate against the organization and its ad agency for defamation. Lorillard stated that it would not sue if the foundation agreed to a series of demands. Accordingly, the foundation entered into discussions with Lorillard to attempt an out-of-court resolution. However, on January 18, 2002, Lorillard abandoned discussions and began to pursue a new claim against it. Lorilland purported that portions of the Truth campaign violated the Master Settlement Agreement's prohibition against "vilification" or "personal attacks" against the tobacco companies.<ref>http://www.americanlegacy.org/190.html</ref>
After a series of cases in both [[Delaware]] and [[North Carolina]], the matter was resolved on by the Delaware Supreme Court on July 17, 2006. They ruled unanimously that the Truth campaign did not violate the Master Settlement Agreement.<ref>http://www.americanlegacy.org/190.html</ref>
==Support==
The Citizen's Commission to Protect the Truth was founded to ensure continued funding of the Truth Campaign, citing its reach to youth and its effectiveness. Among its citations was a study published in the [[American Journal of Public Health]] demonstrating that the Truth campaign has helped reduce smoking among young people.
===The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth===
The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth was founded to support continued funding of the Truth campaign. Under the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement, tobacco companies were required to pay into the National Public Education Fund portion of the Master Settlement Agreement through 2003.<ref>http://www.americanlegacy.org/83.htm#funding</ref> The Master Settlement Agreement requires payments to the Fund be made only as long as the participating tobacco manufacturers maintained at least 99.05 percent of the U.S. tobacco market;<ref>http://www.americanlegacy.org/83.htm#funding</ref> the tobacco companies no longer met this requirement as of 2003.<ref>[http://www.protectthetruth.org/truthcampaign.htm Protect the Truth - Truth Campaign<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
According to the Commission, the Truth campaign was effective due its thorough reach of youth. They claim that 75% of all 12 to 17 year-olds in the United States could accurately describe one or more of the Truth ads. They further claim about 90% of youths said the ad they saw was convincing and 85% said the ad gave them good reasons not to smoke.<ref>[http://www.protectthetruth.org/truthcampaign.htm Protect the Truth - Truth Campaign<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> It is unclear, however, which study or studies the Commission is citing.
===Study supports effectiveness of Truth ads===
In a news release dated February 23, 2005, The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth cited a study published by the ''American Journal of Public Health''.<ref>[http://www.protectthetruth.org/newsroom_0223pressrelease_1.htm Protect the Truth - News Room<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The study, conducted by researchers from [[RTI International]], Columbia University, and the American Legacy Foundation, analyzed data from [[Monitoring the Future]], collected from students between 1997 and 2002. As the Monitoring The Future data did not specifically ask about exposure to the Truth campaign, the study grouped participants based on television markets to analyze the effect of the campaign. The study showed there was a 3.2% decline in smoking before the campaign launch, during 1997 through 1999, compared with 6.8% after the campaign launch in the years 2000 through 2002. The study also concluded that, while there was no statistically significant relationship between overall youth smoking prevalence and the campaign in 2000 (just a few months after the campaign began), there was a statistically significant effect during 2001.<ref>[http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/95/3/425?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=1&andorexacttitle=and&titleabstract=smoking&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&fdate=//&tdate=//&resourcetype=HWCIT Evidence of a Dose-Response Relationship Between "truth" Antismoking Ads and Youth Smoking Prevalence - Farrelly et al. 95 (3): 425 - American Journal of Public Health<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.thetruth.com/ TheTruth.com website]
[[Category:Tobacco control]]
[[Category:Health websites]]
[[Category:American websites]]