Advertisers, Altria Oppose Restrictions in Tobacco Bill

The newly-passed FDA tobacco bill, and the restrictions it places on cigarette advertising, are already drawing opposition from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), a group of 340 companies that spend more than $100 billion a year on marketing and advertising. The new rules will ban outdoor advertising for tobacco within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, and restrict many forms of print advertising to black-and-white text only. The ANA predicts that federal courts will throw out the new marketing restrictions. Tobacco companies have also started complaining about the bill's restrictions. Even Altria Group, the parent company of Phillip Morris, which helped draft the bill and supported the legislation, said in a statement last week that it believed some of the marketing restrictions were illegal. Legal experts have said a court challenge of the bill on First Amendment grounds is virtually certain.