Traveling to Richmond, Va. on April 25, Ben Brandzel '03 and Andrew Slack '02 joined more than 80 members sent by Infact to the Philip Morris shareholders' convention. For nine years, Infact has been coordinating the national campaign to boycott Philip Morris (now Altria Group, Inc.), which includes Kraft and Nabisco. Infact began targeting Kraft in 1998, boycotted Nstle in the 1970s and later General Electric for producing nuclear weapons.

Brandzel and Slack said that Philip Morris chose to change its name, effective of the April shareholders' meeting, due to the negative press the company has received — partially due to the efforts of Infact.

"We proposed a name change for the parent corporation to Altria Group, Inc., reflecting our growth and evaluation into more than a tobacco company through actions such as the Nabisco acquisition and the Kraft Foods IPO," Chairman and CEO of Philip Morris Geoffrey C. Bible said during his opening remarks at the convention.

Infact has made two demands of Altria: First, that the group stop marketing tobacco to youths. Secondly, that they stop interfering with the World Health Organization's negotiations with countries globally — negotiations that could result in tobacco restrictions worldwide.

Slack led protesters outside the convention, while Brandzel joined campaigners inside the proceedings. "Every Philip Morris executive and shareholder would have to see us on the way in," Slack said of the "outside effort."

He also said another effect of the outside effort benefited the protesters themselves. "(It was) to raise the morale of the activists and make them feel proud to be there and inspired to be there and make them ready to work on Infact's campaign to boycott Altria products when they leave."

Brandzel was one of several participants who targeted high level executives to ask their responses on the boycott. "I actually, I didn't personally talk to the CEO of Kraft, but he was on my list," Brandzel said, adding that he did speak to the executive vice president for public relations. "What I found is that they were very sensitive to the issues the boycott has raised and the trouble that the boycott is causing their company. Most significantly to me, personally, they were also aware of what happened at Brandeis and they were very concerned about it."

According to the World Health Organization, four million tobacco related deaths occur every year. They estimate that by 2030, that number will be 10 million a year. Seven million of those will be in developing countries.

Altria's website, which still bears the name Philip Morris, enumerates the corporation's philanthropic contributions. The site says the corporation donated more than $1 billion in 2001, about $135 million of which were cash and food donations. The report from the convention stated that, in the 2001 fiscal year, Philip Morris's 100th year, net earnings rose 10.1 percent, to $80.9 billion.

"The campaign is not over," Slack said. "We still encourage students to boycott anyway they can in their individual lives."

"The very notion that 764 students came out to vote yes to join Infact's international boycott puts significant amount of pressure on Phillip Morris," Slack said. "Phillip Morris has heard us, they called us, they're scared, and they're concerned."

"What was more significant in my mind was to hear it from PM. We went to the belly of the beast and we found there clear evidence of the impact that we have had," Slack said.