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14
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
MAY/JUNE 2012
NEWS & TRENDS
Ad Ban Defeated
A federal judge struck down a Worcester ordinance
banning outdoor tobacco advertising.
U.S. District Judge Douglas
Woodlock decided in favor of
The National Association of
Tobacco Outlets in a 2011 case
against the City of Worcester
about a proposed tobacco ad
ban. The judge granted summary
judgment to Philip Morris USA
(PM USA) and other tobacco
companies and retailers that filed
suit this past June.
“Tobacco
companies
have a constitutional right
to communicate with adult
consumers
through
retail
advertising and this court
appropriately recognized that,”
said Murray Garnick, Altria Client
Services’ senior vice president
and associate general counsel,
after the decision, speaking on
behalf of PM USA. “Many courts,
including the U.S. Supreme
Court, have determined that
the First Amendment allows
us to communicate with adult
consumers and we will continue
to vigorously defend this right
when it is challenged.”
Woodlock’s ruling stated that
the city has no legitimate interest
in prohibiting “non-misleading
advertising” to adults to prevent
them from making decisions
of which the city disapproves,
according to the
Worcester
Telegram
. He also noted that
Worcester officials did not
make any effort in crafting the
ordinance to determine what
types of advertisements are most
harmful to minors.
“The broad sweep of the
ordinance suggests that the [city]
did not consider how to tailor the
restrictions so as to not unduly
burden the plaintiffs’ free speech
rights and the rights of adults
to truthful information about
tobacco products,” Woodlock
wrote. “Neither the city’s goal
to prevent tobacco-related health
problems among adults, nor
its correlative goal regarding
minors, provides a basis for the
ordinance.”
Worcester city officials were
reportedly disappointed by the
ruling, but hadn’t yet decided
whether they would appeal.