Phil Gaberman

Phil Gaberman was Creative Director at Brian Associates (an advertising agency) circa 1970. He sent letters to New York design schools, ostensibly on behalf of the Lorillard Tobacco Company, seeking assistance to design a package that would appeal to the "youth market."

In one letter, Gaberman wrote to a industrial design school asking the students' help to design a package for a new brand of Lorillard cigarettes called "Kicks," to be aimed at the "youth market." The cigarettes were to be packed in packages of ten instead of the usual twenty.

Gaberman wrote,

"Note: While this cigarette is geared to the youth market, no attempt (obvious) can be made to encourage persons under twenty-one to smoke. The package design should be geared to attract the youthful eye...not the ever-watchful eye of the Federal Government."

Gaberman sent similar letters to two design schools. One rejected his offer and the other never responded. However, a copy of one of the letters came into the hands of Consumer Reports magazine, who printed an item describing the letter in the editorial section of the magazine. The editorial subsequently came to the attention of the Lorillard company who contacted Brian Associates. The ad agency said the letters had been unauthorized, that Gaberman had acted of his own volition and that they fired Gaberman for writing them.