From Silver Ravenwolf's website:

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Sends Silver A Letter of Apology - The Saga of the Shattered Romance

Harrisburg, PA -- Brooms and cauldrons were taking flight in the RavenWolf camp in August when tobacco conglomerate R.J. Reynolds released a Camel cigarette ad with the unauthorized use of a book written by Llewellyn author, Silver RavenWolf, linking RavenWolf's work to negative magick.

In a stereotypical campaign entitled "Might Tasty", R.J. Reynolds slung the positive religion of WitchCraft into the dark side of magick through its depiction of three lovely models eagerly sticking pins in a doll over a fantasy shattered romance. RavenWolf's book, To Stir A Magick Cauldron, outlines the positive, religious aspects of Wicca.

During the month of August, 'Shattered Romance' appeared in various mass media publications including Glamour, Mirabella, Mademoiselle, Jane, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Cosmopolitan and others. With the assistance of on-line cyber-space Witches and Jim Rendon, a newspaper reporter from The Metro in San Jose, CA, Pagans put up such a rumpus that tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds wrote a letter of apology to Mrs. RavenWolf, dated 4 September, 1998.

In the September 3-9 Metro article (authored by Jim Rendon) an R.J. Reynolds spokesperson, Carole Crosslin, plead not-guilty in purposefully associating negative magick to Wicca. She also stated the company did not realize they had slighted anyone's religion and that they had only received a "handful" of complaints. Individuals interviewed by Jim Rendon were Brin-Marie McLaughlin, Paul Langlois, K.C. Anton (President of the Bay Area Pagan Assemblies in Mountain View) and Silver RavenWolf.

Guy M. Blynn, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel wrote to Mrs. RavenWolf: "Because we have caused you (and, apparently, others) dismay, we apologize. Unfortunately, we simply did not realize that the ad would offend anyone's religious beliefs." Mr. Blynn went on to say that, "As best I can discover, the book was innocently selected as a prop by an unknowing stylist who was employed by the photographer."

Mr. Blynn further stated that, "The Camel brand normally rotates its advertising executions on a frequent basis, and we are no longer placing this execution. Due to the frequency of some publications, however, the 'Shattered Romance' ad will still appear in a handful of magazines until new issues are released."

Although R.J. Reynolds has answered Ms. RavenWolf's letter, only Glamour has acknowledged the discrimination -- through a form letter suggesting that Ms. RavenWolf contact the story editor of the magazine.

The AP wire service, slow to pick up on the story, has been outdistanced by a cable television channel, ZDTV (www.zdtv.com) that aired a 20 second segment on the discrimination issue on 10 September 1998. The cable service is dedicated to computer and on-line news. Several individuals dedicated entire websites or added extra pages to their sites to combat the pinch of discrimination, including the Witches Voice, once of the largest Pagan websites currently in cyberspace. Online newsletter MagickalCauldron was also of great assistance.

To date, R.J. Reynolds has received copies of To Stir A Magick Cauldron, an on-line petition, letters from the community, and several copies of Scott Cunningham's The Truth About WitchCraft (donated by a cyber-space Witch).

Silver would like to post a thank-you note to all those who contributed their time and energy. If you would like your name included on this posting, please e-mail her at SilvrRWlf@aol.com

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David Michael Rice
The world's second biggest glutton! (Next to Godzilla)