Tobacco Action Program

Philip Morris started its Tobacco Action Program in 1978 as a vehicle to participate in an industry-wide effort to stimulate tobacco company and associated tobacco industry workers to fight public health policies and advocate for smokers rights by taking direct action, such as writing letters and making phone calls to legislators and regulators. The Tobacco Action Program was the PM component of the industry-wide Tobacco Action Network.

The newsletter of the Tobacco Action Program was called "TAPGram." PM used TAPGram to disemminate information on proposed public health policies that could negatively affect cigarette sales and the social acceptability of smoking. The newsletter typically urged participants in the Tobacco Actin Program to take specific actions to protest these efforts. PM included postage-paid envelopes in the back of TapGram for employees to use to alert PM to any public health policy efforts ongoing in various parts of the country, so PM could mobilize to fight them.

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