Tobacco Documents Online

American Associaton of Advertising Agencies Inc.. 1899 L Street. N`N., Washingtcr. OC 20036 .(202) 33i-7345 Wasn:ng:on Office STATEMENT BY HAROLD A. SHOUP EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ADVERTISING AI3ENCIES August 10, 1995 We in the advertising industry have grave concerns about the actions involving tobacco advertising announced today by President Clinton. We are not fighting a battle over the issue of whether people should purchase tobacco. That is a personal decision. We are concerned about the rights of marketers to advertise legal products and the precedent this would set for other "politically incorreia" but legal products. We believe that jurisdiction over the advertising of tnbacco products must remain with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has statutory authority over all advertising. lt has the expertise and the capacity to regulate advertising and, most of all, has an o'ectiv perspective. The FTC shares responsibility with FDA for the regulation of other products and that has proved to be a very successful and efficient partnersnip. Also, the FTC and the FDA effectively share the responsibility for regulation or,her products with the advertising responsibility being retained by the FTC. There is, however, an even more fundamental lssue a•: stake: in its effort to modify and change the behavior of individuals, the government has elected to suppress speech. We believe and the courts have upheld the tanet that government does not have this right. The most important E.iecedent for th.s is the Central HudsQn case decided by the U. S. Supreme Court. yeedouaners 666 Th rd Avelue. New Ycrk, N.Y. tC017. 1212) 682-250C

Mr. Harold A. Shoup Page Two This case clearly sets the terms for government interfisrence. - Does the government have a legitimate interest in the issue? • Would the remedies suggested advance the government's interest? Are the remedies carefully tailored to advance those interests? We agree that the government has an interest. However, there is no evidence that advertising restrictions will have any deterrent effect. In fact, they may work in exactly the opposite direction. This has been the case in other countries where ad bans and restrictions have notably failed to change behavior. In several countries where ail advertising is banned, smoking is widespread and has actually increased. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission has stated that there is no evidence that the decision to smoke is linked to advertising. Finally, in the Central Hudson test, we believe that thEr remedies proposed by the President are not narrowly tailored. The President's plan does not take into account the rights of adults. Any number of other remedies could be used without violating the rights of 50 million adult smokers to receive truthful information about a legal product that have decided to use. Over the years, many proposals to restrict tobacco 3dvertising have come before the Congress. They have been rejected. f•he Presidont's plan seems to be compietefy counter to public demand for smaller, less intrusive government.

Mr. Harold A. Shoup Page Three We do, however, propose a simple solution: First, govemment sh increase its effort to educate the public - undoubtedly there are advertising agencies available to work on such a campaign. Second, government hs ould inter+sify its efforts to enforce existing laws that prohibit sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to minors. But finelly, government sho Id abandon its initiative 1:o restrict by law or regulation the truthful advertising of this legal product. The AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES is the national trade association of the advertising agency business. AAAA's membership is comprised of over 600 advertising agencies doing business in 1,700 offices throughout the United States. AAAA members create and place almost 75% of all notionel advertising and substantlal amounts of local and regiohal advertising.