MAIL

ACTUAL LETTERS
FROM
ACTUAL READERS




Tobacco Industry Evil, PR OK

Editor:
Thank you for running Mark Worth's fine report, "Light Up. Be Cool. Drop Dead" in your July/August issue. It was, I'm sure, an eye-opening piece for many who are unaware of the scope of the tobacco industry's on-the-ground activities aimed at making the use of tobacco appear cool so that more children are attracted to it. It's also the kind of story that the mainstream print media rarely do well. My hat is off to you!
As good as the article was, though, it is important to point out that the writer played to old stereotypes of public relations people. Mark Worth would have the reader believe that those in my industry are nothing more that influence whores, willing to sell their morality and ethics to anyone with enough bucks. The fact is that most PR firms in this area when approached last year by the tobacco industry told them to take a hike. Few PR professionals are willing to go through life knowing that they did anything at all to support an industry that every single day lures 3,000 children into a lifetime addiction and condemns 1,000 of them to a premature death.
In fact, more than a few PR people dedicate major portions of their lives, both paid and unpaid, to fight against the campaign of misinformation conducted by the tobacco industry. My firm, The Wiley Brooks Company, for instance, currently is managing two large-scale anti-tobacco campaigns, one for the Washington State Department of Health and the other for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. To get an idea of what's being done by PR people on the right side of this issue, I invite your readers to check out the "Enough Said Fred" web site at . Fred is Joe Camel's smarter, healthier cousin. He is the featured attraction in the Tobacco Free Summer campaign in Pierce County. The effort is aimed at kids between 6 and 12 years old because fully 60 percent of adult tobacco users first experimented with it when they were only 13 or 14 years old. Most kids become quickly addicted.
I'm saddened that Mark Dyce at Dyce Friend Promotions has crawled into bed with the tobacco industry and in doing so furthered the myth that PR people are nothing more than flacks. I would hope that your readers now understand that his kind are a tiny minority in our industry and that those of us in the majority clearly do not approve.

Wiley Brooks,
APR President
The Wiley Brooks Company, Seattle


Good Job

Editor:
Damn good job! Read the recent issue about the tobacco marketing here ("Light Up. Be Cool. Drop Dead") and was glad to see the coverage by some brave press. Cheers to you!

Doug Hayman
Seattle

Please see an additional reader response to this story.

Dittoheads Read FP on-line

Editor:
When I loaded your paper, I expected to see some news or articles, not the communist manifesto. That's the worst crap I've ever had the shame to bring into my home. I did use it, though, as a bad example, to my kids. The teenagers had a good laugh at your 'headlines.'
I'm not all that depressed about the state of folks like you, come to think of it, the more people that you can turn into little robots, the less competition my kids will have when they're out of school. Who knows, maybe they'll even hire you someday, if you straighten yourself out, he he!!!

Dana Booth
Seattle


UW Afraid of Radio Democracy

Editor:
Oh no, not again! Don Yates is still trying to destroy KCMU as a distinct alternative to corporate media (see "Curses Again" issue #22) He cut all those DJ's off of their day shows and still tells people what they can and can't play on their shows. Seattle used to be a pretty rocked out town; now most of its radio, whether its KZOK, KISW, of KNDD, is pretty doggone tame and frankly I'm really bored with most of it.
I don't listen to KCMU anymore because they don't play good alternative rock anymore. I still listen to their news every once in awhile, but now that that's gone, why bother. KCMU's close association with the University of Weyerhauser, er, Washington is probably the main reason why such anti-democratic initiatives are continually forced on us, but that's no surprise coming from a school whose leadership is stupid enough to think that eliminating its environmental studies program is going to attract out-of-state students.
Situations like this don't end with a bang they end with a whimper, as the spirit of the people is constantly broken by a leadership that sees creativity, independent thought, and self-determination as a threat rather than an asset. Maybe we'd better just ignore them and guarantee diversity in news sources by starting our own station again and setting up a management structure from the beginning so that dickheads can't dominate policy and set content for the rest of us.

Lyle Courtsal


Hollis for President

Editor:
Progressives who cannot stomach a Clinton-Dole contest will not be left without an option. The Socialist Party has nominated presidential hopeful Mary Cal Hollis, a former member of Colorado's Rural Electric Board, a member of the environmentalist Sheep Mountain Alliance, and a long time activist in trade union, anti-nuclear, feminist, and Central American solidarity movements.
The Hollis candidacy is backed by the most sophisticated Socialist campaign ever-complete with a World Wide Web page, and experienced campaign staff, and an aggressive plan for getting on the ballot in all 50 states.
A vote for Hollis is a vote for universal health care, a living wage, public education, workers' rights, a safe environment, an end to privatization, a sustainable economy, and putting people before profits!
Support the Socialist Party's 1996 Presidential Campaign. Call toll-free at 1-800-858-450.

J. Cassella
Durango, Colorado



[Home] [This Issue's Directory] [WFP Index] [WFP Back Issues] [E-Mail WFP]

Contents on this page were published in the September/October, 1996 edition of the Washington Free Press.
WFP, 1463 E. Republican #178, Seattle, WA -USA, 98112. -- WAfreepress@gmail.com
Copyright © 1996 WFP Collective, Inc.