
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003023391
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

TOBACCO ADS COME UNDER FIRE AT HEARING

A legislator contends that R.J. Reynolds is using a T-shirt promotion to hook youngsters on cigarettes, a charge the tobacco company denies.

"I'm 41 and I wear T-shirts," R.J. Reynolds spokesman Dave Fishel said in a telephone interview from Winston-Salem, N.C.

Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kan., attacked the T-shirt promotion Thursday at an Energy and Commerce subcommittee on transportation and hazardous materials hearing on a bill to restrict tobacco advertising.

"I contend that when you give away T-shirts you are targeting children, not targeting adults," Slattery said, adding that to deny that youngsters are being targeted "is an insult to people's intelligence."

Slattery was referring to an R.J. Reynolds campaign that offers free T-shirts with a cartoon version of the longtime Camel cigarette mascot, "Old Joe."

Opponents of the bill to restrict advertising argue that the campaign against so-called "targeted advertising" is an elitist and patronizing affront to the judgment of those being targeted, including blacks, Hispanics and women.

Anti-smoking advocates say the tobacco industry is preying on Hispanics, blacks, women and youngsters to make up for the lost market from people who quit smoking.

by CNB