Big Tobacco Challenging Court-Ordered Ads

A court order to run ads saying they lied about the dangers of smoking isn’t sitting well with Big Tobacco. Altria Group Inc., which owns Phillip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and Lorillard Inc. are challenging the ruling, which demands the ads appear on newspapers, televisions, websites, and in cigarette pack inserts. The ads would require them to “shame and humiliate themselves by confessing to past misconduct and by branding themselves as liars,” the companies wrote in a filing. A federal appeals court in 2012 already rejected attempts by tobacco firms to overturn the ruling, but did not address specifics of the statements’ content. The government has until Dec. 8 to respond to the appeal.