Chapter 9 
DR. TOWNSEND: I am not speaking about their perception. I am speaking 
about the advertising associated with the cigarettes that smokers purchase. 
For example, if you go into a store to buy cigarettes, you can buy Winston 
regulars, Winston Lights, or Winston Ultra Lights. And of course, those 
relative categories are based on FTC tar numbers. So, you did not ask them 
a question like that? 
DR. COHEN: No, we didn't ask that specific question. 
DR. TOWNSEND: My experience, in talking with a lot of consumers, is that 
they do know, very clearly, the category of cigarettes that they are smoking, 
even though some of them do not know the accurate numbers of the 
cigarettes that they are smoking. 
DR. COHEN: I would not disagree with you. 
DR. TOWNSEND: And that ranking of categories is based on the FTC 
numbers. So, I think that your conclusion that the numbers are useless, 
I certainly do not agree with. 
I think another example of that is in my recent purchase of a hot water 
heater. 1 certainly used the energy efficiency ratings in making that choice. 
I cannot tell you today what the energy efficiency rating actually is. 
DR. COHEN: If we are here looking at the utility of the FTC tar numbers 
in advertising, then I think it is fair to ask if people are taking away this 
information. The assertion is made that this information has value to 
people. I am examining that assertion. 
Now, if you are saying, well, it is not the numbers they care about; it is 
the categories, then you can present information that says they are done in 
four categories. 
DR. TOWNSEND: In addition to that, you also said that there is at least one 
category where a high percentage of those smokers do look at those numbers 
very carefully. So, I think your conclusion that the FTC numbers are useless 
is certainly not true. 
DR. COHEN: I do not know that I went that far; I stopped a little short of 
that. 
DR. TOWNSEND: And I think another very practical example of the utility 
of the FTC relative numbers is, in fact, what has happened to the industry 
over the past 40 years. We have reduced the level of tar delivery, by the 
FTC method, from about 38 mg down to about 12 mg. I think Dr. Hoffmann 
spoke to that very clearly. 
What has happened to cause that dramatic a change is that people trade 
off taste. The lower tar cigarettes generally have — or always have — fewer 
taste characteristics. And people find that more acceptable. So, they are 
making this tradeoff in the marketplace of taste and something else. 
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