State Suing R.J. Reynolds for Contempt

Source from:  bizjournals.com 12/06/2007

Ohio's attorney general is suing the maker of Camel cigarettes for $5 million, alleging a recent magazine advertising spread violates 1998's multibillion-dollar Master Settlement Agreement. Attorney General Marc Dann filed suit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court Tuesday, asking the court to hold Winston-Salem, N.C.-based R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in contempt and to fine it more than $5 million. Dann claims a spread in the Nov. 15 issue of Rolling Stone violates provisions of the agreement, signed between cigarette makers and 45 states to settle potential litigation over smoking-related health-care costs and the industry's advertising practices. Ohio's share of the agreement exceeded $5 billion and bonds for which were recently securitized to finance school construction. The agreement prohibits the use of cartoons to advertise or promote tobacco products, Dann said, adding that eight other states are expected to file similar actions Tuesday. "RJR has repeatedly walked up to and, in our opinion, crossed the advertising and marketing boundaries encompassed within the (agreement) and they must be held accountable for these willful violations," Dann said in a statement. In the Rolling Stone advertisement, a four-page R.J. Reynolds ad bookends an editorial spread about the "Indie Rock Universe," using what Dann writes in the complaint are clearly cartoon images. R.J. Reynolds has said the company didn't pay for the cartoon-laden spread, but Dann argues that the proximity of the advertisements to the Rolling Stone images indicate the two are "unified in a discrete theme." Dann further argues that the images in the R.J. Reynolds-financed ads violate provisions of the agreement. Enditem