R. J. Reynolds Cancels Test of Cigarette Aimed at Blacks

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., under fire for targeting its new Uptown cigarette brand to black smokers, said Friday that it would cancel test-marketing of the brand in Philadelphia.

The company did not say whether it would ever introduce the mentholated brand.

In a news release announcing its action, Reynolds complained of the “unfair and biased attention” the brand had received. “This represents a loss of choice for black smokers and a further erosion of the free enterprise system,” Reynolds said.

Black and Hispanic groups, as well as anti-smoking interests, had harshly attacked Reynolds for the new brand, which the company acknowledged was intended to appeal to blacks.

On Thursday, Dr. Louis Sullivan, the nation’s top health official, bitterly denounced Reynolds and urged it to cancel the plans for the test-marketing, which was to begin Feb. 5.

Peter Hoult, the Reynolds executive quoted in the company’s news release, said a “small coalition of anti-smoking zealots” forced the tobacco firm to cancel its plans.

“Our intentions in test-marketing Uptown in Philadelphia have been misconstrued and misrepresented by the anti-smoking lobby,” said Hoult, who is executive vice president for marketing. “Our sole purpose, plainly and simply, was to test market a cigarette among smokers who currently buy competitive products.”