State signals support of lawsuit involving Kool cigarette ads

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Hawai'i is among more than two dozen states that have signed a letter saying that officials plan to sue Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., accusing the company of targeting young people with its Kool cigarette marketing campaign.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sent the Louisville, Ky.-based company a letter saying images of rappers, disc jockeys and dancers featured on Kool cigarette packs and in ads "all appeal to youth."

Brown & Williamson was among the companies that agreed in 1998 to pay $206 billion to settle smoking-related healthcare claims brought by states.

Under the terms of the settlement, tobacco companies are barred from targeting teens through advertising or marketing.

The agreement requires the states to give tobacco companies one month's notice before a lawsuit is filed. Spitzer sent the letter Friday.

Brown & Williamson spokesman Mark Smith denied the company is marketing Kool cigarettes to kids.

"We're going for adults, and adults for us start at 21," Smith said.

Hawai'i is among the states receiving money from the master settlement.

Deputy Attorney General Alex Barrett said the state agreed to support the complaints about the Kool marketing campaign in the letter.

But Barrett said the tobacco company did not target Hawai'i in the campaign and it's not clear whether the state would commit to a lawsuit.

State health officials indicated early this year that Kool cigarettes are the most popular brand name in Hawai'i among adult and under-age smokers.

Barrett said Brown & Williamson has indicated that the ad campaign has run its course and the theme will end soon.

"They acknowledged that they had gone too far," he said.

Sherri Watson Hyde, who heads the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, believes children — particularly black children — are the target of the campaign, which includes disc jockey tie-ins and contests.

"The flair of this promotion definitely has an appeal to an audience that is younger than 21 or younger than 18," Hyde said.

Brown & Williamson sent the attorneys general a letter last month saying it had stopped distributing Kool cigarette packs featuring hip-hop characters.

The company also said it stopped giving away promotional CD-ROMs and running magazine ads as part of the campaign, which includes a national disc jockey competition.

Spitzer said the CD-ROM giveaway violates a portion of the settlement barring companies from distributing non-tobacco merchandise showing cigarette brand names.

The letter was sent by Spitzer on behalf of his state as well as Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawai'i, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.

Advertiser staff writer Robbie Dingeman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.