Tobacco company fined €20m over adverts
A judge in San Diego has fined RJ Reynolds Co more than €20 million for violating the terms of a US tobacco agreement by running magazine adverts aimed at teenagers.
The California Attorney General's office, which filed the case against America's second biggest tobacco company last year, had asked the judge to fine the firm and ban it from advertising in 50 magazines read by teens.
A national tobacco settlement with 46 states makes no specific mention of magazine advertising but includes a ban on tobacco companies taking "any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth".
"This is the story of a company that refused over a long period to change its policies and practices as regards to teen exposure," Deputy Attorney General Karen Leaf said in closing arguments last month.
"They have advertised in magazines very popular with teenagers such as Motorcyclist, Hot Rod, and Spin."
Lawyers for Reynolds contended that such a restriction on advertising would violate the company's First Amendment rights.
"They want you to hold us in contempt and fine us $20m (€20m) for exercising a constitutional right," lawyer Jeh Charles Johnson told the judge last month. "In this country, that is censorship."
Lawyers for Reynolds denied the company deliberately targeted youngsters in its magazine advertising campaigns for Camel cigarettes and other brands following the 1998 national tobacco settlement.
They claim its intended targets were young adults. Company policy forbids adverts in magazines with youth readership of more than 25%. However, Reynolds lawyers conceded that an unintended consequence of targeting young adults was that some teens were likely to see its ads.
Expert witnesses testifying for the state said teens were often more likely than adults to see Reynolds' advertising, suggesting that the company was exploiting a loophole to reach youths.
Reynolds has about 25% of the American market through brands that include Camel, Winston, Doral and Salem.
