America's major tobacco companies have agreed to the language they'll have to use in court-ordered advertisements detailing to the public all the damage smoking can do.
Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the advertising campaign in 2006 after the U.S. government accused big tobacco companies - including Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds - of violating racketeering laws and lying to the American public.
On Friday, the tobacco companies finally reached an agreement with the Justice Department that lays out the details of those court-ordered TV and newspaper advertisements. However, the agreement specifically says the tobacco companies won't have to run the ads until they exhaust their opportunities to appeal the 2006 order - which they have yet to do.
Still, USA Today notes that the tobacco industry has rejected two of the industry's appeals in the matter, so it looks like they will eventually have to run (and pay for) the ads. Here is what they'll look like:
Under the terms of the agreement, Altria (which owns Philip Morris USA), R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, and Lorillard must each:
- Publish full-page ads in the Sunday edition of 35 newspapers every week for the next year
- Publish banner ads in the online editions of the same newspapers on the highest traffic area of the site for a full day every week for the next year
- Air primetime TV spots on CBS, ABC, and NBC five times per week for the next year
- Publish the same "corrective statements" on their websites
- Attach an "outsert" with "corrective statements" on a predetermined number of cigarette packs three times per year.