Report on Altria's 2004 Meeting of Stockholders

REPORT ON ALTRIA's 2004 MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS

Moustapha Drame of Mouvement Anti-Tabac du Senegal confronts
CEO Camilleri about Altria's opposition to graphic warning labels

The site of this year's Altria meeting was the company's Kraft facility in East Hanover, New Jersey. The facility is located on the top of a large, grassy hill in the middle of a residential area. A sign at the main entrance directed shareholders to the meeting.

While the youth spread out along the entrances to the facility and prepared to "greet" shareholders, 12 youth and 3 adults drove up the hill to the meeting site. The security was extremely tight and everyone in the cars had to display the "site passes" (which had to be requested from the company prior to the meeting) before being allowed to drive further. Photos 1, 2, 3

Before being allowed to enter the meeting site itself, shareholders and people representing them by proxy had to go through another security checkpoint and metal detector.

The event was immensely scaled down compared to previous years. In the past, shareholders have, after passing through security, been ushered into a large tent featuring food and a wide variety of displays about the company, such as its "youth smoking prevention" programs worldwide, "corporate philanthropy", and efforts to affect business-friendly legislation. This year, there was merely a small room, with some food and a couple stacks of annual reports and a few general flyers about the company. The company also refrained from giving out samples of its products as in past years, choosing to ""donate money to a local charity instead (how sweet).

The meeting itself, which is usually held in several large tents, linked by video, was held in the small, round cafeteria of the Kraft facility, which was decorated with lighted Altria logos. Due to the change in location and increased security measures, attendance at the meeting was down about 90% compared to previous years. Typically about 2000 people, many from Virginia, attend. This year there were only about 200. All were able to sit in the main room.

Our contingent of 15 sat in the second row, in front of podium, a great vantage point for looking the CEO in the eye!

NY YOUTH CONFRONTS ALTRIA VICE PRESIDENT RE: SELLING DEATH WORLDWIDE

While sitting and waiting for the meeting to commence, we noticed Altria's Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Steven C. Parrish standing nearby. Chris Blitz, a high school student involved Reality Check (NY), decided to go have a chat with the company's "principal spokesperson." Here's the dialogue that occurred, according to Chris:

CB: Hello Mr. Parrish, it's a pleasure to meet one of the world's largest mass murderers…yet to be convicted of his crimes.

[Parrish's demeanor changes and his face goes red]

SP: I'm sorry that you feel that way.

CB: I'm against the selling of [a product] that kills so many people round the world

SP: Tobacco kills a lot of people and we're trying to change that.

CB: Well, we're trying TWICE as hard!

ALTRIA'S ANNUAL PAGEANT SHOW

At 9 am, Altria CEO and Chairman of the Board Louis Camilleri came to the podium and welcomed shareholders to the meeting.

A video highlighting ads from around the world for the company's products was then shown. It was strange for Americans, who have not seen television ads for cigarettes for so long, to view a person taking a swig of a drink in one ad jump to a person casually take a puff of a cigarette in another. The video went from one to the other repeatedly and casually, as if a cigarette is a product just like any other. One of the featured cigarette ads was from Japan. The video also highlighted some historical examples of ads for its company's products, including the infamous Marlboro Man galloping on his horse in rhythm with an uplifting musical score.

Camilleri then delivered the business report. Some highlights:

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Camilleri highlighted two of the weakest elements of the FCTC, e.g. limiting sales of cigarettes to people 18 years and older and "conspicuous health warnings like those already in use" (presumably he was not referring to Canada or Brazil's hard-hitting, graphic ads)
Selling death can be "responsible": Altria believes that "making, marketing and selling cigarettes and being responsible is compatible." (yeah right!)
Food and Drug Administration regulation: Camilleri said that FDA regulation "could" reduce harm from tobacco. It would assure "consistency" in tobacco policy and more "predictability" for the industry.
European Union & Smuggling: Altria is happy to be working in "cooperation" with the EU on the illegal trade of tobacco (no mention, of course, of the company's past involvement with cigarette smuggling)
"Youth Smoking Prevention" programs: Camilleri plugged its YSP websites and the [ineffective] strategy of parents talking to their kids about smoking and the company's "We Card" program. In particular, he highlighted the company's YSP program in Ukraine. See for yourself, how ridiculous it is
Market shares abroad: Camilleri noted that sales were down in France due to higher taxes, though market share remained the same. In Italy, however, the company's Marlboro and Diana brands had lost market share due to cheap alternatives.
Food business: Camilleri announced that Altria had formed a licensing agreement with TAZO teas and expanding its natural food & organics "Back to Nature" brand.

The transcript of Camilleri's remarks

SHAREHOLDERS QUESTION & COMMENTS

After the business report, the floor was opened for questions and comments from shareholders. Because attendance was much less than in prior years and tobacco control advocates were more numerous, they represented a much larger portion of the audience this year (at least 20-30%). Virtually all of the questions and comments this year were from tobacco control advocates. Here are a few highlights:

Ruth Malone, an associate professor of nursing at the University of California and organizer of the NIGHTENGALES, was the first of several nurses who read heart-wrenching letters sent to the tobacco industry from angry, grieving family members of people killed by tobacco products. The letters were discovered during searches of online internal tobacco industry documents. For more information, read the group's press release
Another nurse asked the CEO and shareholders to join her in a moment of silence to mark the anniversary of her father's death from tobacco. The CEO had no choice but to oblige. The moment of silence that ensued was both "deafening" and dramatic. It seemed to go on for a long time, with CEO daring not to break it.
Anne Morrow Donley of Virginia GASP highlighted Richard Clark's recent apology to the families of 9/11 victims for the U.S. government's failure to prevent the terrorist attacks, and asked what it would take for Altria to apologize for killing so many people around the world. Read Anne's full statement and report on the Altria meeting
Dr. Caleb Otto, an FCTC delegate from Palau that Infact arranged to attend the meeting, asked why the company supports the FCTC when it doesn't support many of the provisions in the FCTC, such as a total advertising ban. For more information, see Infact's website

A Thai Tobacco Control Advocate Confronts the Altria CEO

Dr. Hatai Chitanondh, President of Thailand Health Promotion Institute, The National Health Foundation, made the following statement, which he prefaced by saying that he is one of two people in Asia that the tobacco industry hates most.

Good morning, my name is Hatai Chitanondh and I am President of the Thailand Health Promotion Institute.

I have only one question to ask:In 2002 while regulations mandating pictorial health warnings were being prepared, Philip Morris sent a letter to the Minister of Public Health in Thailand stating that the regulation would contradict Thailand's constitutional protection of free speech. Your corporation threatened to bring the case to the constitutional court. You also alleged that the regulation would violate the World Trade Organization's agreement on property rights and could be overruled by the WTO. The Ministry quietly kept the letter for two months but I got it from a good friend of mine and I came out to rebut Philip Morris' threat in the newspapers' front pages. Why did Philip Morris not go ahead with the threat?

Mr. Camilleri, I would be appreciative if you could answer this question.

RESPONSE: The CEO failed to answer the question, pretending not to have understood it. He said that graphic warning labels violate the company's trademarks -- it's as "simple as that."

Licensed to Kill Extends a Special Invitation to Camilleri

The Q & A period ended with some black humor, when a representative of the "tobacco" company Licensed to Kill, Inc (a parody of the tobacco industry), extended a special information to CEO Camilleri:

Good morning Mr. Camilleri (Louis). I greet you today as a fellow tobacco executive. My name is Core Prutspin and I am the Secretary and a Director of Licensed to Kill, Inc. As you know, Licensed to Kill is a real company, incorporated in the state of Virginia last year. The purpose of the company, as explicitly stated in our articles of incorporation is: to manufacture and market tobacco products in a way that each year kills over 400,000 Americans and 4.5 million other people worldwide. Our company slogan is "We're Rich, You're Dead!"

Yesterday, our company also held its Annual Meeting of Stockholders in East Hanover, NJ. Our company would like to expand its board of directors and is looking for people with experience in making a killing around the world. Who better than the directors of Altria? Yesterday, our stockholders voted to elect Altria's directors to our board, pending a favorable response from them. So my question to you is, as chairman of the board of directors of Altria, will you accept our invitation to join the board of our company Licensed to Kill?

The CEO declined by saying that Licensed to Kill's comments were in "poor taste." Read more.

ALTRIA REJECTS SHAREHOLDER PROPOSALS

A variety of shareholder proposals were presented, including one urging the company to better warn pregnant women of the harm smoking does to the fetus, and another calling on the company to adopt Canadian-style graphic warning labels on ALL its tobacco products sold around the world. Not surprisingly, the company recommended that shareholders vote AGAINST all the proposals and the majority of shareholders followed the company's advice. Real more about the proposals

Jessica Harvey, a high school student involved with Reality Check (NY), went up to the microphone to offer comments on Proposal to warn pregnant women about smoking, but Camilleri cut off the comment period abruptly before she and others had a chance to speak, likely due to a tip off from security guards that she had something hidden up her shirt sleeve. What were they scared of? Marlboro baby clothing from West Africa (further proof that the company cares little about babies, before OR after they are born).
Moustapha Drame, a youth leader with Mouvement Anti-Tabac du Senegal, later addressed Camilleri and questioned Altria's lack of support for the proposal to adopt hard-hitting Canadian-style warning labels on all its tobacco products. He said that most people around the world do not have access to online information about tobacco (something Camilleri plugged as a solution). Furthermore, many cannot read and for them text labels are useless. Moustapha also unveiled a Marlboro advertisement from Senegal and pointed out that it did not even carry a warning label. Camilleri claimed that the example was not an advertisement, rather a "trade promotion." Note: We've since noticed that the advertisement does carry a small, weak warning, but it blends in so well that even Camilleri couldn't see it! Check out the ad
Dana Mitchell, an adult coordinator of Dover Youth to Youth (NH) made the following comments relative to the same shareholder proposal:

Phillip Morris (PM) can sell a message if it wants to and we (PM) are good at it. I have been consuming the company's media my whole life. In the 1950's I saw ads with doctors claiming health benefits from smoking PM products. In the '70s and '80s ads emphasized healthy, vigorous images that implied there was nothing wrong with smoking. In the 1990s one of your predecessors swore to Congress that nicotine was not addictive. A few years later PM CEO James Morgan swore under oath in a Florida deposition that smoking was not proven harmful and nicotine was no more addictive than the "Gummi Bears" he is fond of.

The point is that the company has been using its media capacity to lie to the American public for my entire life and PM owes it to the American people to use its media capacity to devise truly effective, meaningful and thorough warnings of the type described in the proposal.

As Dana finished making his point Camilleri asked him "Do you have a point?" -- which was actually a signal that he wanted Dana to wrap up. The CEO didn't realize that Dana was already done.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS CONFRONTED AFTER MEETING

Only the company's CEO and Secretary sat in front of the audience during the meeting. At one point, a shareholder questioned whether or not the rest of the board of directors were present. Camilleri then acknowledged that all but two of the directors were indeed present and sitting in the front row before him.

At the close of the meeting, we rushed over to the Directors before they had a chance to exit - with Altria security guards in hot pursuit -- and handed them edgy flyers developed by some youth tobacco control advocates. Check them out:1, 2

Altria Director Lucio Noto smiled and thanked us upon receiving his flyer. We caught CEO Louis Camilleri as he was stepping off the stage, but he was less friendly and refused to take the flyer. We tucked it under his arm instead. A security guard promptly removed it.

A youth announced to the audience that 150 youth were protesting outside and would be holding a press conference soon. We then exited to join the outside rally.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Altria webpage on 2004 Meeting of Stockholders
Proxy statement: pdf, html
Altria's 2003 Annual Report: pdf, html
View webcast (must register, tobacco control advocates are edited out)

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING GROUPS/INVIDUALS FOR HELPING YOUTH GET INTO THE MEETING: Infact, David O. Lewis, John O'Hara, Joanne Tromiczak-Neid