Authors: Michael Moss
176
twelve of the most senior
The reporting on this and other Philip Morris meetings benefited greatly from the records the company has provided to the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LT) at the University of California, San Francisco. These records range from the mundane—mailed
invitations to attendees, payment vouchers, and memos on room preparation—to the deeply insightful—meeting agendas, minutes, and presentations. For a description of the building, see “It’s Open House at Last at Altria’s Midtown Home,”
The New York Times
, September 9, 2008.
177
He was joined by
“Joseph F. Cullman 3rd, Who Made Philip Morris a Tobacco Power, Dies at 92,”
The New York Times
, May 1, 2004; “George Weissman, Leader at Philip Morris and in the Arts in New York, Dies at 90,”
The New York Times
, July 27, 2009.
178
When it finished merging
Stuart,
Kraft General Foods
; “Contents for Briefing Book Annual Meeting 1992,” LT. The briefing book contains a fount of confidential information about Philip Morris’s income and expenditures that year: the portion of its revenue derived from food (50%, compared with 42% for tobacco), its advertising expenditure ($2.4 billion), the cost of operating its fifteen corporate aircraft ($32 million), the sum it spent on lobbying fees ($4.8 million), and the R&D expenditures ($396 million).
179
“Cigarettes are much the same”
Geoffrey Bible to author.
180
a Nebraska man named Edwin Perkins
“Edwin Perkins and the Kool-Aid Story,”
Historical News
, vol. 31, no. 4, Adams County Historical Society, 1998; Bucher and Villines,
Greatest Thing Since Sliced Cheese
; Jean Sanders, “Edwin E. Perkins: Inventor and Entrepreneur, Kool-Aid King,” Nebraska State Education Association, 2008. Credit for Kool-Aid’s early success also goes to one of his salesmen. “Bob Maclean, Marketing Expert Who ‘Put Kool-Aid on the Map,’ ”
San Jose Mercury News
, February 21, 1994.
181
Americans would stir up
Kraft presentation to Philip Morris, June 18, 1996, in LT.
182
by not using promotional materials
For a discussion of the industry’s practices, see “Hearing on the ‘Targeting’ of Blacks, Hispanics, Other Racial Groups, and Women by Alcohol and Tobacco Company Advertising,”
House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Transportation and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, March 1, 1990.
183
Adventures of Kool-Aid Man
See Comic Vine, a comic book retailer.
184
“Gain kid demand”
Kraft presentation to Philip Morris, February 26, 1990, in LT.
185
a mere 5 percent
Ibid.
186
won a coveted award
Philip Morris Quarterly Director’s Report, June 1992, marked “confidential,” in LT. The award was an Effie.
187
the company had trademarked
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, registration no. 1,646,512, May 28, 1991.
188
“four clever ways”
The Tang ad was reported by the Center on Science in the Public Interest in its newsletter, 1990.
189
“To kids 6–12”
Kraft presentation to Philip Morris, February 26, 1990, in LT.
190
a few thoughts of their own
“Minutes, Corporate Products Committee Meeting, February 26, 1990,” in LT.
191
showing “excellent” results
Transcript, Philip Morris Annual Meeting of Stockholders, April 23, 1992, in LT.
192
Each of the major brands
Al Clausi interviews with author. The technical center is described in detail in a pamphlet, “Welcome to the General Foods Technical Center 20th Anniversary Open House,” General Foods, November 11, 1977.
193
fructose is much sweeter
Various Kraft and other food scientists to author. For a technical discussion of fructose and specifics on Kraft’s experimentation, see U.S. Patent No. 5,102,682, filed on April 7, 1992, Maurice Nasrallah, et al., on behalf of Kraft General Foods.
194
true power of fructose
John White, “The Role of Sugars in Foods:
Why Are They Added?” Added Sugars Conference, American Heart Association, May 2010.
195
“Fructose Team”
Philip Morris Product Development Symposium, December 5, 1990, in LT.
196
known as the “Patent King”
Fouad Saleeb to author; Bucher and Villines,
Greatest Thing Since Sliced Cheese
.
197
estimated that this move alone
Toni Nasrallah, “The Development of Taste/Cost Optimized Dry Mix Beverages,” Philip Morris Product Development Symposium, December 5, 1990, in LT.
198
Yale study made headlines
Jane Brody, “New Data on Sugar and Child Behavior,”
The New York Times
, May 10, 1990.
199
World Health Organization
I am grateful to Marion Nestle of New York University for being generous with her extensive files on this and other issues relating to nutrition policy and science. There was also widespread media coverage of the WHO proposal. “Commodities: WHO Proposal Worries Sugar Producers,”
Inter Press Service
, April 26, 1990.
200
He gave them a drug
Adam Drewnowski et al., “Naloxone, an Opiate Blocker, Reduced the Consumption of Sweet High-Fat Foods in Obese and Lean Female Binge Eaters,”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
61 (1995): 1206–1212.
201
experts now agree
Marion Nestle to author. For a fair-minded and detailed perspective from an industry consultant, see John White, “Straight Talk about High-Fructose Corn Syrup: What It Is and What It Ain’t,”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
88 (2008): 1716S–1721S; John White, “Misconceptions about High-Fructose Corn Syrup: Is It Uniquely Responsible for Obesity, Reactive Dicarbonyl Compounds, and Advanced Glycation Endproducts?”
Journal of Nutrition
, April 22, 2009.
202
pure fructose might be
K. L. Stanhope et al., “Consumption of Fructose and High Fructose Corn Syrup Increases Postprandial Triglycerides,
LDL-Cholesterol, and Apolipoprotein-B in Young Men and Women,”
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
96, no. 10 (2011): 1596–1605.
203
for $155 million
“Contents for Briefing Book Annual Meeting 1992,” in LT. The document notes, “We agreed not to disclose the purchase price ($155,000,000).”
204
“staggering”
“A World of Growth in Store,” Philip Morris, 1995 annual report.
205
“Yes, you could”
Paul Halladay to author.
206
Eighteen days later
Kraft news release, January 26, 2007, and company officials to author.
207
sent consumption soaring
In its submission to the Effie Awards, Kraft said, “Capri Sun’s profit increased well beyond the 17.6% consumption increase, thanks to the double whammy of penetration and buy rate increases during a price hike.” Kraft won an Effie Award for this campaign.
208
Only two of the thirty-five
Stuart,
Kraft General Foods
.
209
had some strategies of its own
“Marketing Synergy,” 1989, in LT.
210
Bible told Kraft managers
Philip Morris Product Development Symposium, December 5, 1990, in LT.
211
they were back in front
Kraft Beverage Division presentation to Corporate Products Committee, June 24, 1996, in LT.
212
“The Beverage division”
“Minutes, Corporate Products Committee Meeting, June 24, 1996,” in LT.
213
“received extremely high scores”
Kraft Beverage Division presentation to Corporate Products Committee, June 24, 1996, in LT.
214
“revealed that African Americans”
Ibid.
215
“Consumers in these stores”
Ibid.
216
“Diabetics already represent”
Ibid.
217
Kraft went after a younger set
In response to my questions about this presentation, the company said, “Kraft is constantly evaluating the taste preferences of our consumers in order to deliver products that meet their varying preferences. As for advertising to tweens, we agree that food and beverage companies should voluntarily limit what they advertise to kids. That’s why, in 2005, we were the first company to change what we advertised to children under the age of 12. We stopped advertising to kids many of the foods and drinks they love, including Tang. And we were thrilled that many others in the industry followed our lead. Today, we advertise very few brands to children.” See
chapter 11
for more on Kraft’s efforts on nutrition.
218
“For Tang”
“Minutes, Corporate Products Committee Meeting, June 24, 1996,” in LT.
219
“an all-day affair”
Memos and agenda records, in LT.
220
The entry rules for this group
Richard Mattes, “Is There a Fatty Acid Taste?”
Annual Review of Nutrition
29 (2009): 305–327; Jean-Pierre Montmayeur and Johannes Le Coutre,
Fat Detection: Taste, Texture, and Post-Ingestive Effects
(Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2010).
221
results from an experiment
Ivan Araujo and Edmund Rolls, “Representation in the Human Brain of Food Texture and Oral Fat,”
Journal of Neuroscience
24 (2004): 3086–3093.
222
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Gene-Jack Wang et al., “Enhanced Resting Activity of the Oral Somatosensory Cortex in Obese Subjects,”
NeuroReport
13, no. 9 (2002); Gene-Jack Wang et al., “Exposure to Appetitive
Food Stimuli Markedly Activates the Human Brain,”
Neuro-Image
21 (2004): 1790–1797; Gene-Jack Wang et al., “Imaging of Brain Dopamine Pathways: Implications for Understanding Obesity,”
Journal of Addiction Medicine
3, no. 1 (2009): 8–18; Gene-Jack Wang et al., “Brain Dopamine and Obesity,”
The Lancet
357 (2001): 354–357.
223
He recruited a dozen
Araujo and Rolls, “Representation in the Human Brain.”
224
“Fat and sugar both produce”
Edmund Rolls correspondence with author.
225
described its operations
Francis McGlone to author.
226
“I went there to build”
Ibid.
227
role that odor plays
Dana Small et al. “Separable Substrates for Anticipatory and Consummatory Chemosensation,”
Neuron
57, no. 5 (2008): 786–797.
228
the power of hearing
Massimiliano Zampini and Charles Spence, “The Role of Auditory Cues in Modulating the Perceived Crispiness and Staleness of Potato Chips,”
Journal of Sensory Studies
19, no. 5 (2004): 347–363.
229
McGlone had a conversation
Francis McGlone to author.
230
too many variables
McGlone posted a description of the experiment on his website, NeuroSci, entitled “Ice Cream Makes You Happy.”
231
“Just one spoonful”
“Ice Cream Makes You Happy, Say Unilever Scientists,”
FoodNavigator
, May 4, 2005.
232
Cargill is one of the world’s largest
“An Unmatched Breadth of Ingredients for Creating Superior Products: Ingredient Portfolio,” Cargill, 2007.
233
Consumer groups who urge
See especially the Center for Science in
the Public Interest, “Promoting Consumption of Low-Fat Milk: The 1% or Less Social Marketing Campaign,” Center for Health Improvement.
234
describe the textures
Alina Szczesniak et al., “Consumer Texture Profile Technique,”
Journal of Food Science
40 (1970): 1253–1256.
235
long list of terms
Ibid.
236
“We were always trying”
Steve Witherly to author.
237
showed them pictures
Montmayeur and Le Coutre,
Fat Detection
.
238
“Why is fat so tasty?”
Ibid.
239
“I want to know”
Adam Drewnowski to author.
240
devised an experiment
Adam Drewnowski and M. R. C. Greenwood, “Cream and Sugar: Human Preferences for High-Fat Foods,”
Physiology and Behavior
30 (1983): 629–633.
241
published his study
A. Drewnowski and M. Schwartz, “Invisible Fats: Sensory Assessment of Sugar/Fat Mixtures,”
Appetite
14 (1990): 203–217.
242
“A dish or a drink”
Adam Drewnowski to author.
243
“We used it on toast”
Dean Southworth to author.
244
something of a horror
The online guide to nutrition in grocery products, Calorie Count, a division of
The New York Times
, awards nutrition grades to products on a scale of A to F. The “original” version of Cheez Whiz was graded a D; other versions ranged between C and F, with one version, a “light” version, scoring a B.
245
“Cheese treats QUICK”
Bucher and Villines,
Greatest Thing Since Sliced Cheese
.
246
“We made adjustments”
Kraft correspondence with author.
247
“I imagine it’s a marketing”
Dean Southworth to author.
248
Day in and day out
Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010
, U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, 2010.
249
found his calling
Bucher and Villines,
Greatest Thing Since Sliced Cheese
. See also James Kraft’s patent, no. 1,186,524.
250
“Made up loss-and-gain account”
Ibid.
251
caustic descriptors
Curt Wohleber, “From Cheese to Cheese Food: Kraft Persuaded Americans to Accept Cheese by Divorcing It from Its Microbe-laden Origins,”
Invention and Technology
17, no. 1 (2001).
252
replaced by sodium phosphate
In 2009, Kraft said the emulsifying salts sodium phosphate and sodium citrate were added “to create texture of melt properties of process cheese” and represented 40% to 45% of the sodium in processed cheese. Todd Abraham, “Sodium Reduction: Opportunities and Challenges,” Kraft Foods, March 30, 2009.
253
“Forget about the way”
Bucher and Villines,
Greatest Thing Since Sliced Cheese
.
254
“Milk in, cheese out”
Ibid.
255
In the old days
Don Blayney, “The Changing Landscape of U.S. Milk Production,” Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2002; Carl Coppock, “Selected Features of the U.S. Dairy Industry from 1900 to 2000,” Coppock Nutritional Services, San Antonio, Texas; Carl Coppock to author; Comptroller General, “Effects and Administration of the 1984 Milk Diversion Program,” U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C., 1985; Alden Manchester and Don Blayney, “Milk Pricing in the United States,” Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2001; Charles Nicholson and Mark Stephenson,
“Analysis of Proposed Programs to Mitigate Price Volatility in the U.S. Dairy Industry,” Unpublished report to a consortium of dairy industry organizations, with author affiliation with California Polytechnic State University and the University of Wisconsin, 2010; “Overview of the United States Dairy Industry,” National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, September 22, 2010; John Brouillette et al., “Cow Comfort and the Effects on Productivity and Profitability,”
Hudson Valley Agricultural Newsletter
.
256
“Deep beneath the ground”
Ward Sinclair, “Under Missouri: A Monument to the Output of the American Cow,”
The Washington Post
, December 21, 1981.
257
discovered the cheese vaults
John Block to author.
258
“Some of us were aggravated”
Sinclair, “Under Missouri.”
259
to make less milk
Comptroller General, “Effects and Administration.”
260
“They made everything cheaper”
Ulfert Broockmann to author.
261
made three hundred thousand pounds
Kraft presentation on Philadelphia Cream Cheese to the Philip Morris Corporate Products Committee, June 1989, in LT.
262
“The introduction of new forms”
Ibid.
263
“Now, I don’t mean to pick”
Philip Morris Product Development Symposium, December 5, 1990, in LT.
264
“Media selection will be skewed”
Kraft presentation on Crockery Spreadable Cheese Snack to the Philip Morris Corporate Products Committee, June 1989, in LT.
265
“There exists an opportunity”
“Natural and Specialty Cheeses: The U.S. Market and a Global Perspective,” Packaged Facts, 2010.
266
“Competition is intensifying”
“Kraft USA 1993 Strategic Plan,” in LT. At the same time, Kraft recognized the nutritional and other concerns
about cheese, and in its public statements the company emphasized that it was laboring hard to produce numerous low-fat varieties. In an internal report entitled “Contents for Briefing Book Annual Meeting 1992,” Kraft anticipated a number of questions about cheese from stockholders: “Is Kraft worried about cholesterol in its cheese products? While dairy products contain both fat and cholesterol, eating them as part of a balanced diet remains a good practice for the vast majority of consumers. Do artificial foods like Velveeta hurt the sales of our other products? The texture and flavor of these products meet unique consumer needs and have generated sizable businesses for Kraft.”
267
kept a close watch on cheese
See consumption data, Economic Research Service, USDA.
268
“We couldn’t win”
Kraft submission to the Effie Awards.
269
“was happy to be”
Ibid.
270
Every week for four months
Ibid.
271
Sales of Philadelphia Cream Cheese surged
Ibid.
272
“We don’t have to eliminate”
Walter Willett to author. In response to my questions about its efforts to increase the consumption of cheese, the company said, “Kraft believes that eating the foods you love and living a healthier lifestyle can, and should, co-exist. Cheese eaten in moderation can be part of a healthy lifestyle. We provide clear, consistent information so consumers can make informed choices as part of a balanced lifestyle. Kraft is proud to market many of which are lower in fat. We also offer Light, Reduced Fat, and Fat Free varieties of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Kraft Singles and many of the other brands in our portfolio.”
273
Dutch researchers conducted
Mirre Viskaale-van Dongen, “Hidden Fat Facilitates Passive Overconsumption,”
Journal of Nutrition
139 (2009): 394–399.
274
“The products we used”
Mirre Viskaal-van Dongen to author.