Matthew Winokur

Matthew Winokur was Manager of the office of Worldwide Regulatory Affairs for Philip Morris Europe. He was appointed Director of Public Affairs of Philip Morris International, Inc. on March 11, 1991. He was appointed Director of Worldwide Tobacco Regulatory Issues -Europe in August 1993. In this position he was based in New York. Prior to this he was Director of Corporate Affairs at PM's office in Rye Brook, New York. In his position of Director of Worldwide Regulatory Issues, he reported to Ted Lattanzio, Director, Worldwide Tobacco Regulatory Issues.

In his various positions with Philip Morris Corporate Affairs, Matt Winokur was responsible for helping PM devise strategies to fight public health regulation of smoking and tobacco products.

Pressuring British Airways to reverse its 1993 smoking ban
After August 3, 1993, when British Airways (BA) announced that all of its European flights of 90 minutes or less would become smoke-free, Philip Morris started looking for ways to pressure British Airways into reversing this decision. One of the people leading PM's campaign against British Airways was Matthew Winokur, then of Philip Morris Worldwide Regulatory Affairs. A September 1993 telex titled "BA Tactics" written by Winokur suggests devising a "grassroots strategy" of using Philip Morris employees to pressure British Airways to reverse the ban. Winokur suggests that all PM employees (and employees of other tobacco companies) who travel on British Airways should be furnished with a blank piece of paper with their tickets along with instructions to submit a written complaint to British Airways about the lack of smoking seats on their flights. The plan would create the impression that large numbers of British Airways customers were unhappy with the smoking restrictions. Presumably the reason that Winokur wanted to furnish the employees with BLANK paper (and not tobacco company letterhead) was to obscure the fact that all the complaints were coming from tobacco company employees. Of his idea, Winokur stated,


 * If PM and our allies all do this, we could create the impression that passengers...are in fact not pleased with the ban. This will go head on with the ban....What do you think? This could create a real volume of letters...

Using "Youth Smoking Prevention" programs as "Ammunition
A 1993 internal Philip Morris Australia (PM) memorandum titled "Phase Two Elaboration" written by Winokur (then of PM Worldwide Regulatory Affairs) reveals a host of corporate strategies to "head off regulations" in Australia. Winokur discusses PM's ownership of the Vegemite brand name, a brand that is strongly identified with Australia, and the Australian public's resentment of foreign ownership of the name. He discusses what PM may be able to do about it. Winokur also identifies "concessions" that PM can use when negotiating with the Australian government. One was "developing campaigns to prevent youth from smoking." Winokur says that such a program "should be developed as ammunition if and when needed, since its clear that tobacco issues can move very quickly in Australia," saying "these shorts of projects [youth programs] could help 'move the needle.'" The memo shows that Winokur considered using the Kraft General Foods name (KGF) to "help tobacco" in Australia, and considered whether doing so would "hamper KGF's agenda." He discussed which individuals could be recruited to help PM attack Australian Ministerial Councils "on the grounds that they 'waste taxpayers' money' and 'cost business.' " Winokur also reiterates PM's strategy of broadening any debate on tobacco by shifting the focus off of health issues:


 * The objective...is not only to create allies but 'shift the debate' from tobacco to broader issues and thus change the battleground. As long as we try to fight on the anti's agenda, we'll get nowhere.

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