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CNN Live At Daybreak
Tobacco Co. Offers Cigarettes for Life to Celebrity Smokers
Aired August 08, 2003 - 06:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for a little business buzz. One tobacco company is trying an unconventional tactic to get you to smoke its cigarettes.
Carrie Lee live in New York from the Nasdaq site.
What are they doing -- Carrie?
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well the small cigarette company, Carol, is trying to find a celebrity to endorse its brands. Now this company is called Freedom Tobacco and they make the recently launched Legal. The cigarettes are actually made in Columbia. And sales since their March debut have totaled about a half a million dollars, so a small company looking for a celebrity endorser to smoke these Legals in public.
Now already the company has hired some actresses, they call them 'leaners,' to smoke the cigarettes in New York City bars, try to get some interest in these cigarettes. No celebrities have taken the bait yet.
And certainly some people are questioning why anyone would do this. Obviously a celebrity can afford his or her own cigarettes if they are a smoker. And No. 2, would someone be willing to potentially risk their image to smoke these Legal? Still, this is what Freedom is looking for.
Interesting, because in the 1940s, Carol, you had names like Lucille Ball, also Ronald Reagan endorsing Chesterfields. Obviously, though, that was a long time ago, and it's quite a different type of environment today when it comes to smoking. So they're looking for someone, no takers yet, though.
COSTELLO: Yes, you rarely even see a celebrity smoking, you know, when the paparazzi shoots them out in public.
LEE: They sort of want to hide it. And in fact, Whoopi Goldberg has an upcoming film. She plays a smoker. And apparently she's gotten some criticism for that role. You know kids see it, they maybe admire somebody like Whoopi Goldberg and then perhaps it encourages them to smoke. That's the thinking anyway. So I guess good luck to Freedom, but they're still looking for their man or woman.
COSTELLO: We say tongue in cheek.
Quick look at the futures. LEE: Yes, it looks like we could see a bit of a higher open this morning. Yesterday we saw a little bit of choppiness. The Dow and Nasdaq down -- S&P, excuse me, ended fractionally higher, the Nasdaq pretty much flat. And in fact, some traders are saying that unless we see something surprising as far as interest rates or economic reports, we could sort of stay at a trading range for the rest of the summer. We'll see.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee, we'll get back to you, many thanks. Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq site in New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM AT www.fdch.com
Smokers>
Aired August 8, 2003 - 06:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for a little business buzz. One tobacco company is trying an unconventional tactic to get you to smoke its cigarettes.
Carrie Lee live in New York from the Nasdaq site.
What are they doing -- Carrie?
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well the small cigarette company, Carol, is trying to find a celebrity to endorse its brands. Now this company is called Freedom Tobacco and they make the recently launched Legal. The cigarettes are actually made in Columbia. And sales since their March debut have totaled about a half a million dollars, so a small company looking for a celebrity endorser to smoke these Legals in public.
Now already the company has hired some actresses, they call them 'leaners,' to smoke the cigarettes in New York City bars, try to get some interest in these cigarettes. No celebrities have taken the bait yet.
And certainly some people are questioning why anyone would do this. Obviously a celebrity can afford his or her own cigarettes if they are a smoker. And No. 2, would someone be willing to potentially risk their image to smoke these Legal? Still, this is what Freedom is looking for.
Interesting, because in the 1940s, Carol, you had names like Lucille Ball, also Ronald Reagan endorsing Chesterfields. Obviously, though, that was a long time ago, and it's quite a different type of environment today when it comes to smoking. So they're looking for someone, no takers yet, though.
COSTELLO: Yes, you rarely even see a celebrity smoking, you know, when the paparazzi shoots them out in public.
LEE: They sort of want to hide it. And in fact, Whoopi Goldberg has an upcoming film. She plays a smoker. And apparently she's gotten some criticism for that role. You know kids see it, they maybe admire somebody like Whoopi Goldberg and then perhaps it encourages them to smoke. That's the thinking anyway. So I guess good luck to Freedom, but they're still looking for their man or woman.
COSTELLO: We say tongue in cheek.
Quick look at the futures. LEE: Yes, it looks like we could see a bit of a higher open this morning. Yesterday we saw a little bit of choppiness. The Dow and Nasdaq down -- S&P, excuse me, ended fractionally higher, the Nasdaq pretty much flat. And in fact, some traders are saying that unless we see something surprising as far as interest rates or economic reports, we could sort of stay at a trading range for the rest of the summer. We'll see.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee, we'll get back to you, many thanks. Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq site in New York.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM AT www.fdch.com
Smokers>
