Scarcnet News Summaries (Advocacy Institute)
US Postal Service Pulls Ad Containing Cigarette
Length: pages
Abstract
The US Postal Service has pulled an ad that shows a woman holding a cigarette after receiving complaints that the agency was promoting smoking.The ad, which is for the agency's global delivery services, features a glamorous woman holding a cigarette and a glass of champagne, while shunning a man kneeling at her side. The ad says, "Some things just transcend cultures." The Postal Service said the ad was not meant to promote smoking, but to reflect culture in other countries. Former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration David Kessler commented, "I don't think it's much ado about nothing. It may seem like much ado about nothing, but that's the problem. We have these images in our minds, and that's what needs to be undone."
Source: Glenn Burkins, "Postal Service Ad Burns Up Nonsmokers," WALL STREET JOURNAL, August 25, 1999, p. B4.