Advertisers, Altria Oppose Restrictions in Tobacco Bill [1]
Submitted by Anne Landman [2] on
The newly-passed FDA tobacco bill [3], and the restrictions it places on cigarette advertising, are already drawing opposition from the Association of National Advertisers [4] (ANA), a group of 340 companies that spend more than $100 billion a year on marketing and advertising [5]. The new rules will ban outdoor advertising for tobacco within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds [6], 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 [7], the parent company of Phillip Morris [8], which helped draft the bill and supported the legislation [9], 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.