A group of more than 20 anti-smoking advocates braved the cold weather and a cold reception during a Friday night protest of a grassroots Marlboro promotion at Club Tsunami.
The protesters, including a handful of students, arrived at Club Tsunami, 2222 Centennial Boulevard, shortly after 9:30 p.m. as a Marlboro Bar Nights promotion happened inside. But security staff ordered the protesters to leave the property when they arrived at the club. Security personnel told reporters that they had to leave notebooks, tape recorders and cameras outside before entering. Philip Morris representatives at the club refused to comment for this story. Christina Malito, a spokeswoman for Philip Morris, said the company doesn’t conduct interviews with student publications.
“It’s our policy that we don’t do interviews with student publications,” she said in a phone interview last week. “It’s been company policy for a while. We stick to it.”
The protesters Friday night held signs, including one depicting a Marlboro cowboy smoking a limp cigarette, and wore T-shirts with anti-smoking messages such as “I miss my lung, Bob.” Several protesters drove Volkswagen vans with ornate murals parodying some tobacco company advertisements. One, a takeoff of Newport cigarettes, read “Newcorpse.”
Once the protesters re-grouped on the sidewalk north of the club, a man who refused to identify himself took close-range photographs of many protesters. Activists said the man was not part of the protest, and some of them speculated that the photographer must work for Philip Morris, the company that owns Marlboro.
“I think it shows that they’re very scared,” Corvallis physician Bruce Thomson said. “They know they’re wrong, and they’re scared.”
The protest, which lasted about an hour, was organized by several University students, Tobacco Free Lane County and Multnomah County tobacco prevention program coordinator Erik Vidstrand.
The anti-smoking activists are protesting grassroots marketing campaigns organized by Philip Morris to gather information about smokers. Members of the Marlboro Bar Nights promotion at Jogger’s Bar and Grill on Tuesday photocopied the identification of smokers who signed up to win trips to one of the company’s three ranches in Arizona and Montana.
Big Fish NW Talent Representation, a Washington-based company, posted fliers on campus earlier this month seeking “bright, energetic” individuals who could “easily fit in” with the 21-30 age group nightclub scene. The flier said the workers would help customers play “easy to win” casino games and set up Marlboro promotional materials in area night spots. The flier said workers could not hand out cigarettes or recruit patrons to smoke.
Members of the anti-smoking group said they are opposed to tobacco promotions such as Marlboro Bar Nights because college students are being courted as future smokers by big tobacco companies. Protesters said the tobacco companies make smoking seem “glamorous” and “sexy” by giving away trips and other merchandise at such promotions.
“If you haven’t started smoking by the time you’re 21, chances are you won’t,” said Paula Staight, director of health education for the University Health Center. “The data overwhelmingly supports that.”
Elizabeth G. Wolcott, a University student, said she was attending her first anti-smoking rally.
“It’s the biggest preventable cause of death,” she said. “In college, some people go out with friends and they smoke. Then Marlboro comes along and tries to make them everyday smokers here. They’re targeting college kids.”