Patrick O'Neil-Dunne

See note on accessing documents at the end of this post. 

The increased pace of witnesses at the Montreal trial of the tobacco class actions, and the steady flow of new exhibits has made it sometimes challenging to keep mental track of 'who said what' or 'who wrote what'. I confess at times the whole thing feels more than  a little blurred.

But in this rich soup of Canadian tobacco history there are some stories that are clear and memorable. One of them is told through the paper legacy of a tobacco pro and former fighter pilot who came to Toronto to set up shop for Rothmans in 1956. His name was Patrick O'Neil-Dunne.

Patrick O'Neil-Dunne

The Irish-born American-educated Mr. O'Neil-Dunne arrived in Toronto more than twenty years after he had first joined Rothmans and more than a decade after he had been demobilized from the RAF.

The 1950s were a time of change in the tobacco business, and no less so for Rothmans. The upmarket British firm had been acquired by the South African newcomer, Mr. Anton Rupert. Aalthough Mr. Rothman remained on the board, there was no question that this was a company under new - and different -  management.

One of the management practices implemented by Patrick O'Neil-Dunn was the hosting of regular training conferences for sales staff. Three of the lectures he prepared for these sessions are now on the trial record - each providing a window onto the knowledge and mindset in 1957.

• Sales Lecture No. 3 - Filters and Lung Cancer (Exhibit 758-3 and 758-3A)
  This lecture covers the history of filters, and provides unvarnished reports of the conclusions of the American Cancer Society and others.
• Sales Lecture No. 6 (Exhibit 758-6)
  Use of "themes" to sell cigarettes. ("The health theme. The taste theme. The popularity theme. The high-class theme. The testimonial theme. The competitive Theme. The pleasure theme. The activity theme. The cigarette-properties theme. The sentimental theme.")
• Sales Lecture No. 9 - Address by the Company's Advertising Agency (Exhibit 758-9)
  This lecture encourages sales staff to remember the the importance of AIDA - Attention-Interest-Desire-Action - in getting people to want to try Rothmans cigarettes
• Sales Lecture No. 11 - Motivation Research: Cigarettes - their Role and Function (Exhibit 758-11)
  This lecture reviews insight on smoker motivation (cigarettes are an "evil," are habit forming and hard to stop, but are associated with active people).

But it was the following year, in 1958, that Mr. O'Neil-Dunne rocked the boat when he launched a series of advertisements that acknowledged the "health aspects of cigarette smoking." This was the first time that a tobacco company had made such admissions, or had so directly used scientific events to promote its cigarette brands. "The advertisement and his comments hit the industry like a tidal wave."

In 1958 Patrick O'Neil-Dunne
ran ads for Rothmans that acknowledged
cancer risk

(Although the ads are a matter of public record, very little of the background or after-burn has been revealed before this trial. One reason is that Rothmans was not involved in U.S. tobacco trials, and has not had its documentary record exposed on the Legacy web-site.)

Less than two weeks before the ads ran, Mr. O'Neil-Dunne made notes of a conversation with his boss,  Anton Rupert. (Exhibit 784)  “You said you had now confirmed the theory of cigarette brands in three dimensions, namely (a) taste to the extreme right and health to the extreme left, (b) colour psychology and (c) class distinction.” His enthusiasm (or sycophancy) is clear: "This is so penetrating a discovery that we can now conquer the world!"

When the ads were run, beginning in June 1958, the shot was heard around the world. Even Time Magazine profiled the dust-up (Exhibit 20064.65). 

Shortly after, Noel Foley, chair of BAT's Australian subsidiary, wrote to BAT that the actions of "an egocentric moron such as I believe O'Neil-Dunne to be" ..."will, in the short picture, enable him to break into the Canadian market and by the time real damage is done to the industry, he will either have made his pile and retired or perhaps have died, either naturally or violently." (Legacy) 

It may have been this Australian reaction that prompted Mr. O'Neil-Dunne to write his Rothmans colleague in in that country. To Mr. Irish he offer his rationale: (Exhibit 917)

“In London I attended both the open and the secret sessions of the Seventh International Cancer Congress. The official view of the British and United States government public health services (also supported by Russian and Eastern Germany – not to mention a number of smaller countries) is: - 

a) Doctors in these countries are no longer going to argue whether there is or is not a link. They are proceeding on the basis that there is. 
b) Statistically, the link is absolute, 
c) Chemically and biologically, the link has been proved beyond doubt on animals 

d) On the assumption that one cannot stop the human race from smoking, the question now is simply one of what is the medical profession and the tobacco industry going to do about it."

The ads were noticed by the international media, including the New York Times. (Exhibit 536B). Time magazine reported the industry description of "O’Neil-Dunne is like the kid in the gang who punks out." (Legacy) Advertising Age printed the ads, almost word for word (Leg1) and brought the story to the business community. (Leg2 ) 

The US Tobacco Industry Research Council was forced to respond. "The position of this country's cigarette industry is unchanged because the facts have not changed. Scientific evidence simply does not support the theory that there is anything in cigarette smoke known to cause human lung cancer." (Exhibit 536C).

Patrick O'Neil-Dunne rode out criticism over the summer, remaining unapologetic to his employers and colleagues. To his concerned former boss, Sydney Rothman, he wrote a detailed explanation of his decisions. (Exhibit 918) . He spoke with his boss, Mr. Rupert, and sent copies of his notes on the conversation to other executives of the company (Exhibit 919). (In these he acknowledges that the ads had not been cleared with senior management before being released.) He promotes the same strategy to his New Zealand counterpart. (Exhibit 921). 

At the end of the summer, he reflects on the 'pros' and 'cons' of he experience and the business implications (Exhibit 785) but sees the ongoing market battle with BAT as a root problem for the backlash.

"Follow up action ... Go for the B.A.T. and Timothy V. Hartnett" ... I have no evidence in my past experience to show that the right policy towards the BAT is either to remain silent or to offer the other cheek. .. Our experience shows that we have become a successful world business only by fighting the BAT vigorously with no quarter given and no quarter asked."

The testy relationship between Mr. O'Neil-Dunne in Canada and TIRC and BAT is shown in the exchange of letters in the early fall of 1958. (Exhibits 536E  536F, 536G, 536H).

It wouldn't be long before Mr. O'Neil-Dunne had laid down arms and abandoned the approach that had caused such a ruckus. In a November 1958 memo to other executives in the company he climbed down from his former position and acknowledged it had not worked: (Exhibit 924)

"In recent weeks I have been asking myself - what have I done to the Canadian market with my research series? There is no doubt in my mind that they raised our consumer sales from 100 million per month to the level of 150 million per month. They are well spoken of and we have an image of a good, powerful, experienced and clever company... I have a shrewd suspicion that my research series has done the opposite of what I originally intended.

Original intention: stir and scare the market to forge our sales to great heights

Result: Placid market. Confidence in all good filter products.

Rothmans ad
in Globe and Mail, 1959

The educated man reasons as follows – 'Rothmans would not have admitted the statistical link between smoking and cancer unless they knew the answer. If they know the answer and their products are free from carcinogens, so does the Imperial or any good cigarette manufacturer. Therefore, any good filter product suits me…' Thus, contrary to what I expected, the market is placid and we are back to bashing advertising to get our share of the trade – ever so slowly. 

It wasn't long before the reins in Canada were passed over to John Devlin, a former airman whom Mr. O'Neil-Dunne had recruited as his replacement. Their advertisements had returned to tried and true themes - "the best tobacco money can buy."

Mr. O'Neil-Dunne did not retire until 1972. In the 1960s, BAT traced his peripatetic movements through Chile, Thailand, Singapore, Jordan, Kenya and elsewhere. 

No surprisingly, Mr. O'Neil-Dunne was a gambler. (He wrote a book on roulette and once played a 35-day roulette game.) 

On the 100th anniversary of his birth, his son blogged a tribute: "A visionary, some called him a genius. Reviled by some, admired by many, never one to leave you feeling ambivalent."

To access trial documents linked to this site:

The documents are on the web-site maintained by the Plaintiff's lawyers. To access them, it is necessary to gain entry to the web-site. Fortunately, this is easy to do.

Step 1: Click on: https://tobacco.asp.visard.ca

Step 2: Click on the blue bar on the splash-page "Acces direct a l'information/direct access to information"

You will then be taken to the document data base.

Step 3: Return to this blog - and click on any links

The documents occasionally require some persistence before being downloaded -- persevere!

Holiday season (for some)

The Blais-Létourneau trial is on recess for another month, but it's a fair guess that the legal teams involved in tobacco litigation in Canada have not been able to fully enjoy this spectacularly warm and sunny July.

Appeal Court hearing on August 9th

In just over two weeks Quebec's Court of Appeal will consider the federal government's request to overturn Justice Riordan's ruling which kept them in this case as well as his decision to allow Imperial Tobacco to amend its claim against them. (On April 20th, Justice Kasirer of the Court of Appeal opted to defer  all decisions on the requests to a three-judge "bench"). 

Decisions from New Brunswick

Lawyers involved in other tobacco cases have also been given summer deadlines. Justice Cyr of New Brunswick's Court of Queen's Bench is responsible for the case management of New Brunswick's claim agains the companies for damages related to health care costs. At the beginning of this month, he expressed frustration with BAT's attempts to delay proceedings and ordered those companies to have their Statement of Defence filed with the court by late August.

Provincial statements of claim

Tobacco industry lawyers will also be working on their defence to the two new provincial claims that were filed on June 8th.  The Quebec government's claim is for $60 billion, and the Alberta government claim for "at least $10 billion" also seeks "an order prohibiting the Defendants from continuing their misrepresentations, deceptive marketing practices and unfair trading practices" and "such further and othe relief the court may deem just." Alberta is the first province to include specific non-monetary remedies in their claim -- they are notably missing from those of the other provinces that have filed suit to date (British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Newfoundland).

Rooftop
A disappeared brand

Federal Court of Appeal rules on one of the world's most famous trademarks.

It's not only lawyers who have been busy as a result of court decisions. In late June, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned Philip Morris/Rothmans, Benson and Hedges 2010 court victory against Imperial Tobacco's challenge of PM/RBH's Rooftop brand as an infringement of ITL's ownership of the Marlborough trademark in Canada.

My local retailer tells me this ruling caused a bit of a scramble as all the "Rooftop" packages were pulled from shelves and the (very few) customers of the brand were left to quit or switch.  The significance of this decision to public health may be uncertain, but this shows that even if public health law hasn't yet  removed cigarettes from the market, intellectual property law has.

Themed lists of Blais-Létourneau exhibits

The pause in the hearings for the class cations has allowed for a more leisurely reading of the
almost 850 exhibits that were presented during the first four months of the trial. In an attempt to make reading them a little more efficient, we are assembling chronologies of documents related to some key themes in the trial. 

The first are: 

• Document destruction at Imperial Tobacco
• The CTMC
• The Smokers' Freedom Society.

Back to the cottage!

The weather in Montreal is predicted to continue warm and mostly sunny - enjoy it those who can!

Day 28 - Do they not like Mondays?

For information on accessing documents, see note at the end of this post 

Maybe it was Mother's Day.  Maybe it was hay fever. For whatever reason, the trial of the  Montreal class action suits against tobacco companies opened its 8th week on a cranky note.

The day bounced between querulous interventions from certain lawyers ("How are we supposed to keep up with this!  It's just not fair!") and unhelpful responses from a certain witness ("I never read this document before, and as such did not review it in preparation.") With contentious issues on the horizon, the rest of the week may be as fractious.

New exhibits, few answers

Today was the third day that former Imperial Tobacco Limited marketing strategist, Ed Ricard, testified. The term 'former' to describe his relationship with Imperial Tobacco might not be fully descriptive. In his answers, he aligns himself with the interests of a company where he worked for almost 3 decades, and where his father once held the most senior positions. 

Mr. Ricard was given lots of opportunity to provide insight into the way that Imperial Tobacco understood its market, designed its marketing strategies, and viewed its customers, as he was questioned by plaintiff lawyer, Philippe Trudel, on marketing documents that spanned more than 20 years. In the absence of much explanation from Mr. Ricard, the new exhibits were left to speak for themselves.

Exhibit 304. This 1978 research project on 16 and 17 year old high school students in four Quebec cities is titled Etude d'exploration qualitative du Marché des jeunes fumeurs quebecois. It is another in the CRY series (CRY6).  It sought to learn more about young people's first smoking experiences (When? Why? How? With whom? Under what influence?), their attitudes and awareness of health issues and their views on various tobacco ad campaigns.

Exhibit 306:  (CRY10) This 1982 study bills itself as part of a "larger effort to better know and understand the market for young smokers."  (Title: Les jeunes face a la cigarette: Exploration qualitative de leurs comportemetns et de leurs attititudes). Participants were 16 to 24 years of age, and included smokers and former smokers.

Exhibit 309. (CRY27-C) This extract from the 1987 Youth Target  provides tables to the custom questions Imperial Tobacco commissioned. Young persons' smoking behaviour, demographics, psycho-graphics, attitudes towards smoking and interests were plotted against one another to give a profile of which sponsored events appealed most to those most likely to smoke.

Exhibit 311. This financial update shows that after the federal government reduced taxes in 1994, Imperial Tobacco's profits increased by 30%.  Increased smoking rates were credited with some of the additional millions.

Project Crawford & Fresh Lights

Exhibit 314.  A 16 page handwritten note from 1983, this one exchanged among people working to find a way to solve "what we have defined as 'side effects' to cigarette smoking." The ITL team is sharing a Eureka! moment as they look at a rosy road ahead through the "key-hole" of lights:
Our marketing opportunity is to advance along the time line of the long run evolution of plain end to filter to king to light and lighter. 

Exhibit 315.  Today, Ed Ricard gave reluctant answers to questions about his views regarding low tar cigarettes being safer. In this memo he wrote in 1989 on very low-tar cigarettes, however, he eloquently discussed how these products had allowed smokers concerned about health risks or under social pressures to continue to smoke. (When asked today what he meant when he called smokers dissonant, he coined a new meaning to a term more usually used to describe someone who smokes but is unhappy about it. Today he said that a "dissonant smoker" is someone who does not have a firm  brand preference.

Exhibit 318.  In 1995, Project Renaissance was designed to find out more about consumer preferences for reduced risk products. It was seen as a follow on to Project Viking and also was linked to Project Day.  This exhibit suggests there was also a Project Month!

Arguments, arguments, arguments!

Last Friday many trooped across the street to the hearing at the Court of Appeal on a request to review Justice Riordan's May 2nd ruling. The court made no decision, and the plaintiffs continue to be able to enter  exhibits on the trial record without having to restore to life the dead authors or recipients in order for the documents to be authenticated.

Other documents continue to be the subject of differing views on admissbility. Today, brief discussions were held on three concerns held by the tobacco companies on certain documents - parliamentary privilege, solicitor client privilege and confidentiality.

A secret discussion about secrets?

Time has been set aside this Thursday afternoon for a discussion about Imperial Tobacco's request for 12 documents to be sealed. (Deborah Glendinning rescinded last week's request for confidentiality for documents that are on the public record as a result of the Tobacco Act trial. Everyone kept a poker face.)

Justice Riordan has clearly been preparing to rule on the issue of confidentiality. He reported that some of his weekend had been spent reviewing a Supreme Court of Canada ruling on the tension between commercial confidentiality and public interest (the case involved the Sierra Club, the federal government and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.).

Justice Riordan hinted there was a solution he would like to be considered, i.e. the development of document summaries which protected confidential information while allowing the 'essential part' to be made public. Any hopes he might have had that such an approach might free him from having to write another judgement during the scheduled break in hearings next week (let alone free the Court of Appeal from the seemingly inevitable appeal of his judgements) would have been dashed by André Lespérance's response.

Mr. Lespérance explained that one of the documents in question involves survey data Imperial Tobacco collected over decades, and has about 30,000 pages and that it is not only the size that makes this document hard to summarize in such a way.  "The CMA market research is difficult and will need to be argued on the principle," he said. "What interests us is quitting and starters -- we will be arguing that it is not confidential information under the meaning of the Sierra Club decision."

Justice Riordan asked whether Imperial Tobacco would be wanting their motion to seal documents to be heard in camera, and was told that such a request is forthcoming.  "If the content comes out in discussion, then the whole issue is moot," explained Deborah Glendinning. Who knows? Maybe the discussion about whether to have an secret in camera session to discuss secret confidential documents will also be held in behind closed doors....

Parliamentary Privilege

Another issue that has not been resolved is whether or not the trial will receive as evidence records of parliamentary discussions, including the testimony given by Jean-Louis Mercier to the Commons legislative committee.  Today, Philippe Trudel tried to introduce a document the Canadian Advertisers Association had provided to parliament, but after objections held it back until the issue is resolved. No date has yet been set to discuss this aspect. (Parliamentary records were introduced as evidence in the constitutional challenge to the Tobacco Products Control Act).

Solicitor Client Privilege 

The tobacco companies have hired historian David Flaherty as an expert witness, but when he appears tomorrow afternoon it will be as a fact witness for the plaintiffs.

Today, it was let drop that the topic of questioning will be the mysterious "Four Season Project" about which the plaintiffs lawyers have asked each witness (none have yet admitted any familiarity). It appears from documents on the Legacy web-site that in 1988, David Flaherty was engaged to measure and document awareness of health issues related to smoking, as part of a Canadian industry-wide effort that was called the Four Season Project. In 1989, David Flaherty was again hired to use such information to help fight Canada's first ever (but ultimately  unsuccessful) lawsuit against tobacco companies.

Deborah Glendinning gave notice that she thinks that solicitor-client privilege should apply to these documents. (You might have thought that privilege was waived once the release of multiple copies was negotiated in out-of-court settlements, but there you go.)

Line up for the rest of the week is as follows:  Tomorrow morning is Ed Ricard's last appearance this week, although he is expected to be called back later. Tomorrow afternoon, David Flaherty will appear.  Wednesday, a librarian from Imperial Tobacco, Carol Bizzarro, will appear. On Thursday afternoon, arguments on the issue of confidentiality will be heard, and on Thursday morning the filmed deposition of BAT lawyer John Meltzer may be aired.

To access trial documents linked to this site:

The documents are on the web-site maintained by the Plaintiff's lawyers. To access them, it is necessary to gain entry to the web-site. Fortunately, this is easy to do.

Step 1: Click on: https://tobacco.asp.visard.ca

Step 2: Click on the blue bar on the splash-page "Acces direct a l'information/direct access to information" You will then be taken to the document data base.

Step 3: Return to this blog - and click on any links.

Ex-303: How to advertise to teens.

For information on accessing documents, see note at the end of this post

What are we to make of Imperial Tobacco commissioning guidelines to make their advertising even more effective with young people?

The document that tells such a story is a research project conducted in 1975 by Canadian Facts for Imperial Tobacco. It is titled du Maurier and young people - an initial exploration, and was introduced to the class action trial on May 10, 2012 as Exhibit 303.

This study is the first in a series of research projects with the label CRY (it is numbered CRY1). The plaintiff lawyers in the Montreal class action suits have asked consecutive witnesses whether they can explain the acronym CRY -- but so far none have been able to remember what it means. This is a tad curious, given that it was defined in the Tobacco Act trial ten years ago "Consumer Research Young". (Documents with the number CRY5, CRY11, CRY27, CRY30, CRY32, CRY36, CRY38 and CRY41 were introduced during the constitutional challenges to the Tobacco Products Control Act and the Tobacco Act).

The existence of Exhibit 303 is inconsistent with statements by Imperial Tobacco that its advertising was not designed with young people in mind, or that it adhered to the restrictions in the industry voluntary code to address its advertisign only to adults 18 years of age and over (Exhibit 20001).

Young Montreal smokers (aged 15 to 18) were recruited and interviewed in two focus groups (separate male and female), where they were shown advertisements for competitors' brands and Imperial brands.  The researchers observed some key criteria for success in advertising to this age group, and then wrote their own "Top 11" ways to appeal to youth.

Some Hypotheses About How To Best Appeal To Young People.

With these two groups as a guide it is possible to develop some guidelines for strategy and executions to best appeal to young people like these. Much of what is to be listed here will be obvious from the foregoing but its summarization might be helpful:

1. Executions should continue to concentrate on showing a male and female couple associated with a particular activity.

2. The couple should be left shadowy and in the background so that there are no discernible clues to their looks, or age.

3. The clues should be left to the executional setting itself.

4. The setting should provide an undercurrent of excitement -- it should not be a passive, unchallenging activity.

5. It should be one in which young people (particularly boys) would like to indulge.

6. It should be an activity that is unusual enough that most would not have done so before but which they could conceive of doing now; that is, it should not be something that they would only do if they “had more money” or when they are older.”

7. It should be an activity that requires some physical accomplishment and would contribute to a slightly masculine orientation but one in which girls could also participate.

8. The activity itself should result in the impression of a peaceful, tranquil, "free" sort of feeling, not a hard, frenetic, sweaty, tiresome sort of feeling (thus , sailing would be better than motor boat racing, bicycling better than jogging, etc.).

9. It should present something "better" without putting it out of the conceivable reach of the "average" young person.

10. The' couple should be shown as if they are just about to start or have just finished the activity, not actually in the process of doing it.

11. The couple should be shown in close physical contact to reinforce the impressions of romantic intimacy – they should be made to look unmarried.


(The pictures of Players advertisements in this post were published in the decade after 1975. They were part of exhibits in the Tobacco Act trial.)

To access trial documents linked to this site:

The documents are on the web-site maintained by the Plaintiff's lawyers. To access them, it is necessary to gain entry to the web-site. Fortunately, this is easy to do.

Step 1: Click on: https://tobacco.asp.visard.ca

Step 2: Click on the blue bar on the splash-page "Acces direct a l'information/direct access to information" You will then be taken to the document data base.

Step 3: Return to this blog - and click on any links.

Week 5 - Documents of the week

See note on accessing documents at the end of this post.

About 50 new exhibits were produced during the 5th week of the trial (witnesses were heard on April 17, 18 and 19th), of which only a few were "on reserve" (i.e. not available to the public).

The Plaintiff's document web-site has an excellent a word-search function on its search page, and is a good source for any specific document needs.

The list below groups some of the more substantive exhibits introduced this week by topic, and presents them in chronological order.

Short on time? Some really juicy documents are marked with an asterix  (**)

Marketing and Consumer Research

Exhibit 175
1968 - Summary of Players No. 6

Exhibit 162
1970 - Project Brave ("research on effect of the whole smoking and health controversy on the consumer")

Exhibit 151
1971 Marketing Plans (Imperial Tobacco)

Exhibit 151A
1971 Players Filter Advertising Plan (Imperial Tobacco)

Exhibit 1972
1972 - Review of Gatwick (Strickman Filter) and marketing context

Exhibit 164
1976 - Matinee Special Filter - Usage and attitude survey

Exhibit 170
1979 - R2D2 - Players III (a 'lighter' version of Players light)

Exhibit 171
1979 - R2D2 - Project Pride - (a lighter version of Players light)

Smoking and Health

Exhibit 153
1975 - Minutes Smoking and Health Policy Meeting (Imperial Tobacco)

Exhibit 163
1975 - Anthony Kalhok's memorandum for Smoking and Health Conference

**Exhibit 177
1976 - Smoking and Health - Analysis and Recommendations (Imperial Tobacco)
Related correspondence at Exhibit 178 and 179

Exhibit 168
1978 - Imperial Tobacco market budget by category of cigarette

**Exhibit 187
1987 - Some thoughts on smoking and health, social acceptance, social costs and environmental tobacco smoke

Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council

Exhibit 155
1976 - Memo (Imperial Tobacco) on industry agreement on tar and nicotine

Exhibit 156A
1977 - Review of CTMC agreement on tar and nicotine
(covering memo at Exhibit 156)

Exhibit 181A
1977 - Agreement among CTMC regarding tar values
(covering memo at Exhibit 181)

Research

Exhibit 176
1972 - Anthony Kalhok review of Project Gatwick

Exhibit 173
1975 - Imperial Tobacco research on carbon monoxide deliveries from Canadian brands

Exhibit 166
1977 - Imperial Tobacco research on biological activity of smoke from Canadian tobacco (nitromethane fraction index)

Exhibit 161
1978 - Imperial Tobacco research on nicotine enhanced cigarettes (addendum to Exhibit 160)

Exhibit 160
1978 - Imperial Tobacco research on nicotine enhanced cigarettes





To access trial documents linked to this site:
The documents are on the web-site maintained by the Plaintiff's lawyers. To access them, it is necessary to gain entry to the web-site. Fortunately, this is easy to do.

Step 1: Click on: https://tobacco.asp.visard.ca

Step 2: Click on the blue bar on the splash-page "Acces direct a l'information/direct access to information" You will then be taken to the document data base.

Step 3: Return to this blog - and click on any links.

Week 4: Documents of the Week

During the examination of Anthony Kalhok, who was vice-president of marketing for Imperial Tobacco in the 1970s, the following sets of documents were introduced as evidence.

Consumer Research on Canadian Smokers

Exhibit 145 
May 7, 1971
Fall 1970 - 8M French Quebec vs. rest of Canada
Results of the regular survey conducted by Canadian Facts on behalf of Imperial Tobacco reporting on the greater likelihood of Quebecers to smoke, and the different patterns of smoking according to education, sex and age between Quebec and elsewhere in Canada.

Exhibit 144:
Date: August 26, 1971
CMA - August Highlights
The polling study looked at public awareness of the brand association of Impeiral brands with sonsored activitie (ballet, golf and autoracing).

Exhibit 139A
Date: August 1975
Exact age started smoking on a regular basis.  CMA
Results of Imperial Tobacco's first analysis of youth smoking behaviours.

Exhibit 139
Date: September 1975
Smokers' starting ageMemo describing results of Exhibit 139A data.

Exhibit 127
March 1977
1977 - transparencies
Polling data showing trends since 1971 on smokers' beliefs about harms of smoking, intentions to quit and successful quitting.

Exhibit 130
June 1977
1977 Segmentation of the French and English Speaking Canadian cigarette markets.
A 161 page report on a study conducted by Market Facts by Imperial Tobacco that used psychographics to identify potential market opportunities for new brands.

Exhibit 142
September 1977
Project 16
Proposal by Kwechansky for focus group study on 16 and 17 year olds to understand their smoking behaviour.

Exhibit 142b
October 1977
Project 16 - English Youth111 page report on results of focus group studies on youth smoking behaviour conducted by Kwechansky Research.

Exhibit 143
April 1978
Smoking and Health. Low and high health concerned smokers.
Further analysis of the data from Exhibit 130, looking at the differences between smokers on the basis of their health concerns.

Product Development

Exhibit 136
Date: June 1972
Project "Gatwick"

Exhibit 138
Date: September 1972
Project Gatwick

A report on the development of a new Players brand that would respond to concerns about smoking and health by introducing a lower T&N cigarette which maintains "smoking satisfaction".  Extensive discussion about the constraints on marketing a "safer" cigarette.

Corporate Policy

Exhibit 113
March 1976
The effect of restrictions on current marketing and marketing in the futureA long analysis prepared by Tony Kalhok and PL Short for consideration at a top-level global meeting of BAT directors looking at the need to refocus marketing communication to provide a more supportive social atmosphere for smokers.

Exhibit 115
May 1976
A memo from PL Short proposing new lines of research and communications activities based on Exhibit 113.

Exhibit 116
May 1976
Minutes at an ITL meeting (among marketing, research, and public relations personnel) at which it was agreed to set up a task force to deal with a change in company policies in communicating smoking and health and adopting measures to increase social acceptability of smoking.

Exhibit 117
May 1976
Minutes of a meeting at ITL where it the paepr (Exhibit 113) was discussed and a number of factors describing the smoking environment agreed to. Recommendations agreed to included to "plan and implement a concerted program to counter adverse publicity."

Exhibit 118
May 1976
Smoking and Health - Some probable questions and possible answers
Talking points on questions involving health consequences of smoking.

Exhibit 120
July 1976
Visit to Southampton R&D by Messrs. Kalhok and ClarkTrip notes from a visit by ITL marketers to BAT's research unit, during which studies smoker behaviour were reveiwed, including compensation behaviours and  ways of designing cigarettes to give more nicotine.

Exhibit 121
July 1976
Cigarettes of the FutureMemo from ITL's director of research to Mr. Kalhok to which a scientific report (by MAH Russell) on smoker compensation was attached.

Exhibit 123
August 1976
Marketing in the 80's: A review of strategies related to smoking and health
Planning notes for a marketing meeting (at Chelwood) which followed on from the meeting at which Exhibit 113 was discussed and agreed to

Exhibit 122
October 1976
Additional notes at Chelwood
Report on the meeting at Chelwood, noting conclusions on smoker compensation ("they puff harder, longer or more frequently"), smokers' need for nicotine, nicotine dependence and "addictive smokers".

Exhibit 124A
October 1976
Minutes concerning trip to Chelwood.
Report on decisions taken and recommendations made by marketers at the Chelwood 197 conference, with a focus on increased communications on smoking and health. These included recommendations to "identify the benefits fo smokign and to exploit these, both as a counter to anti-smoking influences and specifically as an aid in promoting smoking, if possible."

Exhibit 125A
February 1977
Smoking & Health: The Position of Imperial Tobacco
(Proosed) policy guidelines for ITL communications.

Exhibit 125B
February 1977
Position of Imperial Tobacco - An ExplanationAnnotation and explanation of policy guidelines in Exhibit 125A

Exhibit 125
March 1977
S&H - ITL Position Paper February (5R).
Letter from ITL scientist RM Gibb to colleague recommending a change in the position of the company outlinehd in Exhibit 125A in order to "have credibility in the eyes of reasonable, informed people."

Exhibit 128
March 1977
Initiating a proposed action plan (ITL S&H Position)Proposal that work to "counter anti-smoking activities" be conducted in-house at ITL, instead of delegated to the CTMC, including a detailed action plan.

Exhibit 133
April 1978
Smoking and Health - basic assumptionsAnthony Kalhok's opinion on the assumptions posited by BAT that, in his view, were most significant from a business perspective. "We will have to find ways and means to stall the implementaiton of the above or counteract their effects."

To access trial documents linked to this site:

The documents are on the web-site maintained by the Plaintiff's lawyers. To access them, it is necessary to gain entry to the web-site. Fortunately, this is easy to do.

Step 1: Click on: https://tobacco.asp.visard.ca

Step 2: Click on the blue bar on the splash-page "Acces direct a l'information/direct access to information" You will then be taken to the document data base.

Step 3: Return to this blog - and click on any links.