R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Use of Cartoon ads Prompts Suit by Ohio, 7 Other States

Source from:  December 05, 2007 Reginald Fields Plain Dealer Bureau 12/06/2007

Columbus- Ohio and seven other states on Tuesday sued R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., accusing the cigarette maker of violating a nine-year-old settlement agreement that prohibits using cartoons in advertisements. Reynolds said it has done nothing wrong. The Ohio attorney general's office said the company used cartoon illustrations in a nine-page pullout section of the current Rolling Stone magazine that features a comic strip adorned with advertisements for Reynolds' Camel brand cigarettes. Reynolds and other big tobacco companies in 1998 agreed to pay $206 billion to 45 states, including Ohio and the District of Columbia, to pay for smoking-related health costs in return for ending a lawsuit brought by the states over hazards of cigarette smoking. Part of the agreement called for the companies to not use cartoon images to market or promote their products. "RJR has obviously decided that the best way to generate profits is to entice young people to light up by using cartoons and other promotional gimmicks to pound home the message that smoking is 'cool,' " Attorney General Marc Dann said in a statement. According to Rolling Stone's media kit, about 13 percent of its readers were between the ages of 12 and 17 in 2006. California, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Illinois also were expected to file suit against Reynolds over the same advertisement. David Howard, a Reynolds spokesman, said none of the ads feature cartoons. The company knew the ads would run with a promotion for Indie Rock, a music label, but did not know that promotion would be illustrated. Enditem