A wave of new tobacco ads debuted across prime-time television and published in newspapers this weekend, but they aren't promoting what you might expect.
They are "corrective statements" that a federal court judge ordered tobacco companies in the United States to release to inform the public about the dangers of smoking. They were released beginning Friday, according to the Department of Justice.
In 1999, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the country's largest cigarette manufacturers and tobacco trade organizations, claiming civil fraud and racketeering violations over the course of more than 50 years.
Then, in 2006, federal judge Gladys Kessler ruled that tobacco companies had violated civil racketeering laws and ordered them to put stronger language and warning labels in their marketing and to print ads detailing smoking's health effects.
Under court order, the ads are paid for by the tobacco companies Philip Morris USA, Lorillard, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Altria Group.
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