Jump to full article: Associated Press (AP), 2009-05-13
Author: MARC LEVY, Associated Press Writer
Intro: Camel ads coupled with illustrations promoting rock music in Rolling Stone magazine violated the tobacco industry's decade-old promise not to use cartoons to sell cigarettes to minors, a Philadelphia judge ruled Wednesday.
A spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said the ruling is a full victory over R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and the first decision in lawsuits filed by attorneys general in nine states that ordered monetary damages.
An R.J. Reynolds spokesman said the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company will appeal.
Judge William J. Manfredi ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco to pay $302,000 or run a full-page anti-smoking ad in a Rolling Stone edition that circulates in Pennsylvania.
In his decision, Manfredi said R.J. Reynolds violated its pledge not to pitch cigarettes to children because the Rolling Stone-produced and placed illustrations were cartoons and the cigarette maker should have avoided their placement next to a Camel ad.
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Suits in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and New York are still pending.
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