Judge Deciding If Stores Must Post Tobacco Apology

By Author: windy citycigar
Total Articles: 26
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A federal judge will shortly determine if your bottle of soda or tank of gas will be accompanied with a free apology from Joe Camel or Marlboro Man. A latest verdict directing a multimedia campaign saying that the country’s biggest tobacco companies lied regarding the hazards of smoking threatened the likelihood that retailers may be expected to put up large displays with an acknowledgement of a fault.
Retail trade clusters are disappointed concerning the probability the displays would seize their most important selling space and suggest their guilt by association.
Gladys Kessler, the U.S. District Judge, as part of a legal action the government gave in 1999, ordered the tobacco firms last month to pay for counteractive statements on cigarette packets, on TV, radio, in print and on the Internet. The declarations must also reveal health risks of smoking, comprising death of around 1200 persons each day.
As the Justice Department and cigarette manufacturers started discussing on how to execute the remedial statements this month, a footnote in the judgment said the question of whether retailers who have ...
... contracts with tobacco firms to sell their products like OHM tobacco and Southern Steel Tobacco will be required to put up posters in the most prominent positions in their shops, will be determined within a short time.
Retail trade groups reason that the move will invade on their Property and First Amendment rights. On the other hand public health organizations express that the tobacco companies have for a long period of time used retail displays for false advertising. They also add that retailers which are the regular meeting point between the tobacco products and their manufacturers are a significant place to convey the public confession.
The judge, in her original verdict in 2005 noted that retail stores establish tobacco friendly atmospheres comprising attractive displays, noticeable point-of-sale advertising and competitive prices.
As reported by National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), almost 40% of the U.S. convenience stores’ annual sales of $190 billion are from tobacco products like Kentucky Select Pipe Tobacco and Golden Harvest Pipe Tobacco.
Retailers who decline to accommodate the signs could besides lose millions of dollars which they get from tobacco firms under agreements that offer retail stores rebates to assist lower cigarette prices and sums for significantly displaying tobacco products.
Retailers assess that the tobacco industry could lose about $82million each year in sales for each square foot of counter area occupied by the signs. However, the public health groups argue that would amount to just about 65 cents for each day for each retailer in accordance with court filings.
Some retailers argue that if the government wants to do something about availability of cheap cigar and wholesale cigars or want to just do something about tobacco smoking, then they should target the tobacco companies not the retailers. They say that there are already so many laws in effect and also there is already so much information on the health effects of smoking, then what is the reason behind in punishing the retailers how to store cigars and putting up displays.
They say that even though the customers are aware of the health impacts of smoking, they still continue to smoke. It is sadly a part of American culture.