Lorillard is making preemptive strikes against any [image-nocss] possible ban, said the report.
Among Lorillard's tactics is buying up menthol-bashing Internet domain names, including MentholKillsMinorities.com, MentholAddictsYouth.com and FDAMustBanMenthol.com. It implemented this stratgegy last February, a few weeks before the FDA committee first convened. Lorillard registered about 50 variations of the term "menthol," including the dot-com, dot-net and dot-org versions of KillerMenthol, BanMenthol and MentholKills. The company has not built active websites on the domains, but paid for the names "in hopes of a dispassionate debate regarding menthol, rather than outrageous claims these domain names would promote," said Perry.
At another site, www.UnderstandingMenthol.com, launched in June, Lorillard explains its position on menthol and the possible risks of banning it. The company also created Twitter and Facebook pages to discuss the issue. On the sites, Lorillard frequently links to articles that include quotes or are written by groups that oppose a menthol ban and present reasoning similar to its own.
While the other big cigarette manufacturers also oppose a ban, the stakes are higher for Lorillard, the report said. The rising popularity of Newport has helped the company boost its market share in the declining U.S. tobacco industry. The company's overall market share by retail-sales volume rose to 13% in last year's third quarter, from about 9% in 2001.
Companies frequently mount aggressive public-relations and lobbying offensives when under regulatory threat. But the Greensboro, N.C., company's efforts to stave off a ban are more urgent than usual, according to the Journal. Given its dependence on Newport, it faces a potential "doomsday scenario if menthol gets banned and they can't keep a majority of their customers," Philip Gorham, an analyst with Morningstar Inc., told the newspaper.
Lorillard also has launched a non-menthol variety of its flagship Newport brand in November 2010. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage. Also click here for exclusive CSP-USB analysis of the non-menthol product.)
Some antismoking groups say menthol is particularly enticing to blacks, who have long been a target of menthol marketing campaigns, and to adolescent smokers
In addition to arguing that menthols are no more addictive than regular cigarettes, the company is courting allies, including some African-American groups, to help make its case. Through its PR network, Lorillard has enlisted a consultant to get prominent blacks to espouse an anti-ban message in the media, said the report.
Lorillard told the paper that it has helped amplify the views of outside groups by paying to circulate their press releases on PR Newswire, a major news distribution outlet. The company also uses Twitter and Facebook to link to news articles on the issue.
Lorillard spokesperson Gregg Perry told the Journal that the company "has taken vigorous steps to communicate with all who will listen to our point of view," adding that thousands of jobs are at stake. Another deleterious effect, according to those opposing a ban, would be the creation of a large and unregulated black market for menthol cigarettes.
In 2009, Congress passed legislation empowering the FDA to regulate tobacco products. While the law required the agency to prohibit candy, fruit and spice flavorings in cigarettes because of their potential appeal to youths, lawmakers left it to the FDA to tackle the thornier matter of menthol. Menthol cigarettes account for about 30% of industry sales, said the report.
To help the FDA weigh tobacco issues, Congress created the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). The panel's March report on menthol cigarettes could call for an outright ban on the products, or for certain restrictions on advertising. The FDA, however, is not required to follow the panel's recommendation and faces no deadline.
According to the Journal, a Morgan Stanley survey of 878 smokers published in December found that 40% of Newport smokers would most likely try to quit upon a menthol ban; 26% of the 191 Newport smokers polled were unsure what they would do and 15% said they would switch to non-menthol cigarettes.
Peer-reviewed scientific studies have drawn mixed conclusions as to whether menthol-cigarette users find it harder to quit. Meanwhile, there is scant evidence that smokers of menthol varieties are at a greater risk for smoking-related disease. Only one large epidemiological study has found a higher risk of lung cancer, and only in men, the report said.
"We feel confident that if you look at the underlying data and epidemiology, it's absolutely clear that there is no difference in disease rates between menthol and nonmenthol smokers," William True, Lorillard's senior vice president of research, told the paper.
(Click here for additional CSP Daily News coverage of the menthol issue.)
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