[Licensed-to-Kill] New L2K brand SLAVE (TM): "You Used to Pick It, Now You Smoke It!"

[Licensed to Kill, Inc]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 10, 2004
Contact: Corrie Prutspin, Senior VP of Corporate Communications
tobacco@licensedtokill.biz

NEW CIGARETTE BRAND, SLAVE=99, INVITES AFRICAN-AMERICANS
TO CONTINUE LONGTERM RELATIONSHIP WITH TOBACCO
Brand's Slogan: "You Used to Pick It, Now You Smoke It!"

Dakar -- Licensed to Kill, Inc launched a new cigarette brand, SLAVE=99,
today at a publicity event off the coast of Senegal, West Africa. The
new brand, SLAVE=99, was developed with the unique heritage of
African-Americans in mind.

Standing in the Museum of Slaves on Goree Island, Virginia Slime,
Licensed to Kill's Senior VP of Global Marketing, gave a moving
historical tribute to the men and women from whose descendents the
corporation now reaps huge profits:

    Our company is honored to stand here today in the Museum of Slaves
    on Goree Island, where tens of thousands of Africans made their
    final exit from Africa on their way to America. Behind me is the
    aptly named "Door of No Return," for once the shackled men and women
    passed through this door, they would never set their eyes upon these
    shores again. Many perished during the subsequent sea journey. The
    rest were sold to plantation owners on the other side of the
    Atlantic. That's were the story turns brighter, as many of these
    plantations grew tobacco (for sure, our company's favorite cash crop!).

    In fact, in the colony of Virginia (now the Commonwealth of
    Virginia, the state in which our corporation is proud to be
    incorporated) it was the highly profitable tobacco crop which
    increased demand for slaves. By 1790, 20% of the residents in
    Virginia were slaves!

    Now, several hundred years later, the descendants of these first
    Africans to set foot on American soil make up a significant portion
    of the U.S. population. And our industry is pleased to once again
    prosper off of them, this time as they puff, puff, puff away on our
    products!

    That's why we have decided to launch a new cigarette brand, SLAVE=99,
    specifically honoring some of our most loyal, er...addicted,
    customers: African-Americans. As one of our competitors likes to
    say, "we've come a long way, baby!

Rich Grassalamort, Licensed to Kill's new Managing Director for
Francophone West Africa, also spoke at the event:

    While the target market for SLAVE=99 is primarily African-Americans,
    our corporation will be marketing the brand to West Africans as well.

    Some people wonder why I, an African, would help a Western
    corporation hook my fellow Africans to such a lethal product. The
    answer is rather simple: Licensed to Kill is paying me good money.
    While many of my fellow Africans lack access to clean water,
    schoolbooks, and medicine, I get to drive around in a shiny new BMW!

    During the slave trade, it was common for tribes to kidnap members
    of rival tribes and sell them into slavery. That may sound bad, but
    it's just plain economics: some people are willing to sell their
    soul for a lot less than others. In my case, if there are profits to
    be made, I'm happy to be a Merchant of Death!

At the publicity event for SLAVE=99, Licensed to Kill executives
acknowledged that tobacco products kill 45,000 African-Americans
annually, and that based on current smoking patterns, an estimated 1.6
million African-Americans currently under the age of 18 will become
regular smokers and 500,000 of them will die from their nicotine addiction.

"Yes, it's true," said Slime,"but to be brutally honest, Licensed to
Kill is far more concerned about the "health" of our business, than that
of our customers. The more people -- African-Americans and others -- who
smoke, the more vigorously our stock value climbs!"

In developing the promotional campaign for SLAVE=99, Licensed to Kill's
marketing department considered several slogans, including "SLAVE=99:
Enter the Door of No Return," "SLAVE=99: So Addictive, You'll Find it Hard
to Break Free!" and "Be a Slave to SLAVE=99", before deciding upon
"SLAVE=99: You Used to Pick It, Now You Smoke It!"

After the launch, Licensed to Kill, Inc executives posed for photos with
SLAVE=99 cigarettes. The company has asked the curator of the museum to
post the photos next to those of the tobacco industry's good friend,
President George W. Bush, who visited the Island last year (after
kicking the inhabitants off first).

View related photos:

Virginia Slime with SLAVE=99 (with "Door of No Return" behind)
http://www.licensedtokill.biz/photos/wafrica2004/008jh.jpg

Rich Grassalamort strikes a pose for Licensed to Kill, Inc at the "Door
of No Return"
http://www.licensedtokill.biz/photos/wafrica2004/010jh.jpg
http://www.licensedtokill.biz/photos/wafrica2004/011aw.jpg

SLAVE=99 cigarette pack design
http://www.licensedtokill.biz/products/slave.jpg

The concept behind SLAVE=99 is not a new one to the Senegalese who have
long recognized the parallels between cigarettes and shackles. On Goree
Island, this artwork uses discarded cigarette packs and butts to depict
the Museum of Slaves...
http://www.licensedtokill.biz/photos/wafrica2004/slavemuseum.jpg

... and also a Skull and Cross Bones made out of cigarettes
http://www.licensedtokill.biz/photos/wafrica2004/skull.jpg

Elsewhere in Dakar, Licensed to Kill executives came across this "Slave
to Tobacco" artwork
http://www.licensedtokill.biz/photos/wafrica2004/slave.jpg

####

For more information:

Tobacco & Slavery in the Virginia Colony
http://www.historypoint.org/education/teaching/history_backyard/tobacco_sla=
very_virginia_colonies.asp


Licensed to Kill, Inc
http://www.licensedtokill.biz