Tobacco executives deliberately targeted teenagers in internal memos.

Evidence

Subpoenaed memos from R. J. Reynolds describe the need to target young age groups. As one of the memos puts it, “To ensure increased longer term growth for Camel filter, the brand must increase its share penetration among the 14–24 age groups, which have a new set of more liberal values and which represent tomorrow’s cigarette business” (Meier, 1998b). This was not an isolated case, however. Other memos called for more active recruitment of young smokers: “We must get our share of the youth market. We are presently and I think unfairly constrained from directly promoting cigarettes to the youth market” (Memos highlight importance, 1998). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1624

Categorization

• QUESTION: The phrase ‘a new set of more liberal values’ suggests industry exploited cultural liberalization to rebrand smoking — worth chasing how moral-panic-era value shifts were monetized.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1624