Scene 2: The Boardroom of Big Tobacco
These words are heard in a voice over as the giant head is raised (see set diagram).
Voice over: "Meanwhile, back in the United States, inside the boardroom of Big Tobacco…"
As each actor is mentioned, they enter, make a few emblematic gestures then strike a pose and hold it in tableau while the other descriptions are heard. When J.D. enters, both characters pivot to look at him.
May enters DSR with files and magazines -
Voice over: Meet May Upstart. A 26 year old , in charge of advertising for Big Tobacco. She's bright, she's ambitious, and she is a rising star in an industry that is two-thirds male.(i) What she doesn't know, is that, "for sure" has become "fersheezie" and that, to a teen, she is already old.
Jack enters DSL with box of donuts -
Voice over: Meet Jack Carcinoma. Executive vice president in charge of overseas development for Big Tobacco. He loves to sail, travel & smoke cigarettes. You can see him out coughing on the open seas, laughing in the ocean breeze or huddling in cold alleyways behind non-smoking buildings. He has it all, a successful job, a charming smile, and a small tumor growing in his lungs.
J.D. enters UC with nothing in his hands
Voice over: Meet J.D. Status, the boss, the head honcho, the CEO of Big Tobacco (fiddles with his cell phone). He's awkward, he's tense, he's hopelessly square, but hey, he makes $5,000,000.00 a year.(ii) He owns a mansion, a yacht, and half a dozen congressmen. Everything you hear from J.D. is a quote from the tobacco industry.
J.D.: "Good Morning".
Voice over: Except for that. We have no record of that statement.
Jack: Morning Mr. Status.
May: Good Morning J.D.
Jack: Morning May, how was your weekend?
May: Oh well you know, there's no such thing as a bad weekend. I got in some shopping down around Union Square. How ‘bout you?
Jack: I took my niece to the X games. We had a great time. But here it is Monday again and like every Monday morning I've got donuts (offers them to her, and she declines) and the same old stinkin' news – (takes donuts over to J.D. and offers them to him, he takes a donut hole and downs it in one swallow) smoking rates here in the U.S. are declining steadily. (munching on donut) Still.
May: Still? Since…
Jack: (munching) 1940(iii)
Disapproving look from J.D.
May: Dying, ew! That needs a better spin. Let's call death "market reduction" shall we?
Jack: All right.
May: And let's not get depressed here, remember there is a smoker born every day. Look here, (presents a magazine) the Journal of the American Medical Association says that over half of children aged three to six can match our cartoon character with a picture of a cigarette.(vi) This young market is promising!
May: No problem, certainly sir. Um, question, even when we are referring to 3 year olds?
J.D.: Head cocked, eye brows raised.
May: Right.
Jack: We're targeting three to six year olds?
J.D.: They got lips? We want em.(viii) Laughs.
May: Every major cigarette brand in the last 50 years has banked on the young adult smoker.(ix) Even though most of them want to quit by the end of high school.(x)
Jack: (with an undertone of regret) But by then its too late.
J.D.: Of course, it's addictive, that's why you smoke the stuff.(xi)
Voice over: Call on line two sir, it's the press.
J.D.: (picks up the phone) We have not concealed, we do not conceal, and we never will conceal - we have no internal research which proves that smoking is addictive.(xii) (hangs up)
Jack: Yeah, I remember the first time I smoked. I about coughed a lung, got a headache, got dizzy…
May: Yick.
J.D.: We must invoke a psychological motive. A new brand aimed at the young smoker…(xiv)
May & Jack: Young ADULT smoker.
May: (beginning to move toward J.D.) A cool new brand must somehow become the "in" brand and it should be about (a physical tableau accompanies each of these qualities) togetherness, belonging and group acceptance, while still stressing (actors disperse) individuality and "doing one's own thing". (finger quotes)
J.D.: The fragile, developing self image of the young person needs all of the support and enhancement it can get.(xv)
May: And we're just the people to help them out. I'll organize a study to find out how they talk and what they like, to target them for our next campaign . I'll get right on that. (exit)
J.D.: Obviously there is enormous potential in all of these countries. . .(xvi)
Jack: I've got trips planned to most of them, next week I'm going to Ecos. These people are poor, they have health care problems, they'll never pin anything on us.(xvii)
J.D.: (nods yes)… infant mortality is high. The health problems which some say are caused by cigarettes just won't figure as a problem there.(xviii)
Jack: We've already started growing tobacco and producing cigarettes in Ecos. I'm going there next week to check up on how the work is going. (Checks his upstage wrist as if checking the time) Whoa, lunch time - I gotta go, renew my passport, get my physical, pack. See ya later J.D. (Jack exits)
J.D.: I would say the demand for cigarettes is insatiable.(xix) (J.D. exits)