R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is the manufacturer of Camel, Winston, and Doral brand cigarettes. R.J. Reynolds Industries in 1985, encompassed tobacco, food, beverages, spirits and wines, food service and "speciality retailing." According to a 1985 corporate presentation, RJR Industries sought to reduce dependence on tobacco earnings by diversifying into non-tobacco products and services.

= Description =

Circa 1970, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s name was changed to R.J. Reynolds Industries (Barbarians at the Gate, 1990).

RJR or Reynolds Tobacco is short for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. RJRT is a New Jersey corporation whose principal place of business is locate at 4th & Main Street Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27102 (D.B. complaint, 4/94). R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nabisco Inc. RJRN owns 100% of the stock of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in 1994 (Jenney Aff. 5/11/94 Castano, RJRT List Affiliations 5/23/94). RJR Nabisco Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. has publicly issued securities outstanding (Castano, RJRT List of Affiliations, 5/23/94). R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. started business in 1875 in Winston-Salem, NC (Barbarians 1990). In 1899, R.J. Reynolds cut a deal that gave Buck Duke&#8217;s tobacco trust a two-thirds stake in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (Barbarians 1990). R.J. Reynolds secured the exclusive concession on shipping Camel cigarettes to the American troops fighting World War I in Europe (Barbarians 1990). The Reynolds family brought Wake Forest U. to Winston-Salem, NC from 100 miles away in the 1950s (Barbarians 1990). RJRT developed a way to recycle scraps and stems of tobacco to greatly increase the usable amount of each leaf, and increase profits: reconstituted tobacco (Barbarians 1990). Circa 1970, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. name was changed to R.J. Reynolds Industries (Barbarians 1990). RJRT bought its own tobacco in 1988 (L. White, Merchants 1988). In April 1983, RJRT founded the Social Responsibility Department as a response to the growing negative attitude toward smoking. The mission was to minimize the impact of the various controversies surrounding smoking on the company&#8217;s ability to meet its business objectives and to do so in a manner consistent with socially responsible corporate action. This department did focus group research before the 3/19/85 Of cigarettes and Science ad re: the MR FIT study (L. White, Merchants 1988),  On 3/19/85, RJRT ran ads in the new York Times and other newspapers around the country headed Of Cigarettes and Science. This ad was a total distortion of an extremely important study of the relationship between a number of risk factors and heart disease per L. White: the MR FIT trail, the RJRT ad erroneously represented that the MR FIT trial tended to refute the theory that smoking causes coronary heart disease (L. White, Merchants 1988). On 6/16/86, the FTC filed a formal complaint against RJRT as a result of the ad. Administrative Law Judge Montgomery Hyun ruled in favor of RJRT, dismissing the FTC&#8217;s complaint and holding that the ad was noncommercial speech and not subject to the FTC&#8217;s regulation (L. White, Merchants 1988). In April 1987, RJRT began test marketing for a new cigarette, Magna, that showed a glittering chrome logo with the brand name spelled out in bold script against a cherry red background (L. White, Merchants 1988). Mezzina/Brown, a New York, NY advertising agency, is handling the Joe Camel ad campaign for RJRT in 1994 (WSJ 8/2/94). R,J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is represented in the Castano case by Stone, Pigman, Walther, & Hutchinson (attorneys: Phillip A. Wittmann, Stephen H. Kupperman and S. Ann Saucer) and Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. (Stone Pigman replaced Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Toler & Sarpy, L.L.P. May 1994). Forsyth Tobacco Products is a separate division of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to make store brands (W-SJ 2/17/93). The Forsyth Tobacco Products division was formed in 19987 (W-SJ 2/17/93). Forsyth makes store brands such as Cost Cutters (W-SJ 2/17/92). Austin brand is sold at Circle K stores in 1994 (BCD 8/94). Cost Cutters is the store brand of cigarettes for The Kroger Co. (Ad. Age 4/12/93) In June 1992, Peere Marketing Associates Inc. announced that it had signed an agreement with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco USA to market private label cigarettes, under the Best Choice label.(SDJ 7/15/92). Forsyth Tobacco Products brands include: Austin cigarettes in 1994 (Austin pack 1994), BestChoice cigarettes (USDJ 7/15/92), Cost Cutter cigarettes in 1992 (W-SJ 2/17/92), Jacks cigarettes in 1994 (Jacks pack 1994), Scotch Buy cigarettes in 1993 (Ad. Age 4/12/93), SunDance cigarettes in 1994 (SunDance pack 1994). RJRT is the manufacturer, advertiser, and seller of: Austin (Forsyth), Best Value in 1993, Bright Rite, Camel from 1913 to present, Century, Cost Cutter (Forsyth), Doral, Forsyth Tobacco Products, Jacks (Forsyth), Magna from 1987 to present), Monarch, More 1970s? to present, More Light from 1980s to present, Now, Premier (smokeless cigarette, 1988 only), Real ("natural" cigarette, 1970s, Salem (menthol cigarette, 1950s to present, Scotch Buy (Forsyth), Sterling 1985 to present, SunDance (Forsyth), Vantage, Vantage Excel, and Winston 1953-54 to present) cigarettes in the U.S. (Allman complaint, Barbarians 1990, PR Newswire 8/4/93.  RJRT is also the manufacturer of Prince Albert pipe tobacco (Barbarians 1990).

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