TOBACCO ADVERTISING AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT: A "STRANGE CONSTITUTIONAL DOCTRINE" INDEED

Abstract

The FDA's proposed advertising restrictions, described in greater detail infra part II, would ban outdoor advertising for tobacco products within a specified distance of schools and playgrounds; require print advertising to be in black and white text-only format except in publications with a sufficiently high adult readership; ban the sale or distribution of promotional items containing the name or logo of branded non-tobacco items; and prohibit brand sponsorship of events such as concerts and auto races. The FDA also proposes to "require manufacturers to establish and maintain a national public education campaign aimed at children and adolescents to counter the pervasive imagery and reduce the appeal created by decades of pro-tobacco messages."