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Our Commitment to Underage
Access Prevention

Our products are responsibly marketed to existing adult tobacco, vapor and nicotine consumers through tailored advertisements that only use models who are aged 35 and older.  
  
Underage access prevention is critically important across all areas of our business. 
   
Reynolds American is the U.S. parent company of, among others, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, Inc.; American Snuff Company, LLC; R. J. Reynolds Vapor Company; Modoral Brands, Inc. (collectively the ‘operating companies’ or ‘companies’). Reynolds Marketing Services Company (RMSC) provides support for the operating companies and plays a critical role in our Underage Access Prevention efforts.  
  
We conduct our business ethically, legally, and responsibly. Reynolds employees have been—and will continue to be—committed to Retailer Compliance, Responsible Marketing, and Underage Access Prevention through a variety of trainings and programs.  

Right Decisions, Right Now: 35 Years of Educating Youth About the Dangers of Tobacco, Vapor and Nicotine Use  

We believe that educating youth about the dangers of tobacco, vapor and nicotine product use is the right thing to do. It’s important to our companies’ long-term strategic goal of transforming the nicotine industry. Underage prevention makes good business sense because, as we help the continuing decline in underage cigarette use, all interested parties and the public may gain a greater understanding of our commitment to this issue.  

 
In 1991, we began the “Right Decisions Right Now (RDRN)” underage tobacco prevention program that offers materials to educators, parents, and students in grades 5-9, to provide them with tools to help persuade youth to be tobacco- and nicotine-free by making good decisions. The “Right Decisions Right Now: Be Tobacco Free” program was independently tested nationally and was found to be successful on two key measures: (1) recent smoking levels decreased significantly in test schools, particularly for grades 8-9; and (2) the program lowered anticipated tobacco use among middle school-age students. In addition, students’ susceptibility to peer pressure and their perception of the popularity of tobacco-using peers both showed significant declines versus the control groups. The program also has been updated to include a vapor module.  

 
Today, we continue to support the Right Decisions Right Now program. Reynolds employees are encouraged to present the RDRN program to a youth-focused group and each group is entitled to a grant of $500 – $1,000.  
 

Retailer Compliance 

The products of Reynolds American Inc.’s operating companies (collectively referred to as Reynolds) are sold primarily through convenience retail outlets, of which nearly 183,000 outlets are on our contract. In the Retail Marketing Plan Contract (RMPC), contractual agreements with retailers, which cover 94% of the companies’ volume, retailers are required to implement and monitor age restrictions on the sale of tobacco and nicotine products by conducting age verification at point-of-sale to verify that sales occur only to those of legal age.