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THE truth® DEFEATS BIG TOBACCO ONCE AGAIN!
3/13/2007
Federal Communications Commission Dismisses Lorillard Tobacco Company’s Attack On American Legacy Foundation®'s truth® Campaign Ad
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Federal Communications Commission dismissed a claim that Lorillard Tobacco Company made against a specific advertisement from the truth® campaign. This decision marks another victory for the American Legacy Foundation and its effective youth-smoking prevention campaign.
Lorillard had claimed that the radio ad, called Dog Walker, which included recordings from telephone conversations, violated FCC rules. Legacy is grateful that the FCC has dismissed this groundless claim, filed by Lorillard in 2001, so that it can leave this burdensome legal battle behind and continue its mission of building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit.
This past August the Delaware Supreme Court unanimously held that truth® did not violate the Master Settlement Agreement, the landmark agreement reached in 1998 between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. This decision was the final outcome of a lawsuit also brought by Lorillard Tobacco Company.
The truth® campaign, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth-smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction and the health effects and social consequences of smoking – allowing teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products.
The American Legacy Foundation® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EXSM, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit www.americanlegacy.org.
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Contact: Julia Cartwright, (202) 454-5596, jcartwright@americanlegacy.org