Smokeless Tobacco Company To Pull Ads in Magazines with Young Readers
U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., makers of Skoal and Copenhagen brands of smokeless tobacco, announced on Friday that it will pull its advertising from four magazines that have "significant" youth readership, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company said it would halt advertising -- "at least temporarily" -- in Sports Illustrated, Hot Rod, Motor Trend, and the Sporting News (Wall Street Journal, 6/10). Last week, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter to the National Association of Attorneys General asking the group to investigate UST for violations of the 1998 Smokeless Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, under which more than 40 states banned marketing to children. The lawmakers cited a recent Massachusetts Health Department study that examined the tobacco company's advertising in publications "with a substantial youth readership," including Rolling Stone and Spin (California Healthline, 6/5). UST said it has already stopped advertising in Rolling Stone, Spin and other publications with a "substantial number of young readers" (AP/Nando Times, 6/7). Richard Verheij, UST's general counsel, said, "We want to leave no doubt in anyone's mind about our commitment to market to adults" (Wall Street Journal, 6/10).
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