The nation’s biggest tobacco companies are smoking mad over a new rule that requires city retailers to display grisly warning signs about the dangers of lighting up.
The makers of Marlboro, Camel and Newport cigarettes filed suit today to block a recent Board of Health directive that store owners hang posters showing diseased organs along with the message to “Quit Smoking Today.”
The Manhattan federal court filing claims the regulation violates the First Amendment by forcing cigarette sellers “to undertake graphic advocacy on behalf of the city.”
“The mandated signs crowd out other advertisements and otherwise dominate the point of sale in many smaller establishments, to the exclusion of merchandise or other messages chosen by the store owners,” the suit says.
“The signs thus deprive retailers of the limited space available for communicating with their customers and thereby restrict their speech.”
Phillip Morris USA, RJ Reynolds Tobacco and Lorillard Tobacco, along with two trade groups and a pair of Queens convenience stores, also say that making them display the “shocking signs” with their “unappetizing images” goes against a 2001 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In that case, the nation’s highest court “made clear that the (federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act) preempts state and local restrictions on cigarette advertising at the point of sale that are motivated by health concerns,” the suit says.
The city Health Department said: “Point-of-purchase warnings are one of the best tools we have to keep the next generation of New Yorkers from becoming addicted. By trying to suppress this educational campaign, the tobacco industry is signaling its desire to keep kids in the dark.”
The Law Department also noted that “while these proposed changes were under consideration, we carefully considered all of the legal issues, as well as comments we received from the public. We are confident that the health code provisions being challenged will withstand legal scrutiny.”