Philip Morris Co. to Run Cigarette Ads in Fewer Magazines
Philip Morris Co., maker of Marlboro, Parliament and Virginia Slims cigarettes and "one of the nation's biggest advertisers," will "substantially reduc[e]" the number of magazines it advertises its cigarettes in this year, the Chicago Tribune reports (Kirk, Chicago Tribune, 2/1). Under the 1998 national tobacco settlement, the industry agreed not to advertise in a publication if more than 15% or more than two million of its readers were under age 18. Philip Morris followed the ban, pulling advertisements from 50 magazines with young readers in 2000 (California Healthline, 8/15/01). The company says it has cut magazine advertising spending in half over the past two years, eliminating ads from magazines such as Vogue, Entertainment Weekly and Spin. According to the Tribune, magazines that were "deemed OK in the last go-around ... appear to be on the list of cuts this time," including Time, Details and Playboy. Although the company has been "under fire" for its advertising practices, which critics say target youths, the magazine choices indicate that this round of cuts is more of a "cost-saving measure than anything else," the Tribune reports. Brendan McCormick, a Philip Morris spokesperson, said the company has not changed its guidelines for deciding if a publication has "too many young readers," adding that the cutback in magazine ads was a "business decision" (Chicago Tribune, 2/1).
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