Marc Dann Files Another Ridiculous Lawsuit
From James Nash in The Dispatch:
It may not look like Charlie Brown or even Joe Camel, but a recent advertising campaign by the maker of Camel cigarettes still featured cartoons and thus broke the law, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann alleges in a lawsuit filed today.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. violated the terms of the 1998 settlement between tobacco companies and states by using cartoon imagery in a series of advertisements in Rolling Stone magazine last month, Dann’s office said.
The attorney general is seeking $5 million in damages. The figure represents $100 per person who bought the Nov. 15 issue of Rolling Stone in Ohio, plus $100 per Ohioan who registered for an R.J. Reynolds web site that promoted the campaign.
The advertising campaign touted the tobacco company’s support for indie rock.
The prohibition against cartoons in tobacco advertising grew out of the immensely successful Joe Camel campaign, also the brainchild of R.J. Reynolds, which was shown to increase youth smoking. The cartoons at the center of Dann’s lawsuit, however, are more impressionistic and less obviously kid-friendly.
First of all, children should not be reading Rolling Stone magazine.
Secondly, take a look at the supposed “cartoon” here. It clearly is not what Dann claims it is, but that fact won’t stop our employee-screwing Attorney General from grabbing more headlines by suing the EVIL tobacco companies.
And if this lawsuit is successful, who pays the settlement? The cost of any settlement will be simply another tax on lower and middle class workers who smoke.
Unfortunately, the States who are members of the tobacco “multi state agreement” are all bound to defend the terms of the agreement and in fact, the shrinking amount of funds coming to them each year could be docked if they DON’T file suits and take other action to defend the terms. It seems silly, but it doesnt matter if its an R or a D as AG, because this agreement, like many others made in previous administrations, bind future AGs.