The decision is the latest of several appellate rulings that have targeted court rulings that RJR, a unit of Reynolds American Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., violated the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with the pullout in the Nov. 15, 2007, issue, the report said. The magazine ran four pages of Camel [image-nocss] cigarette ads as bookends to five pages of editorial content about independent, "or indie," rock music. The ads promoted a now-defunct Camel website aimed at adult consumers.
Attorneys general in nine states sued Reynolds over the advertisement in December 2007. They accused Reynolds of violating the 1998 agreement between 46 states and tobacco manufacturers because they considered the pullout as one presentationpotentially attracting underage consumersrather than separate advertising and editorial content, said the report.
The attorneys general requested fines of $100 for each magazine distributed within their states' borders, and $100 combined for each visit to the website. The total fines could have exceeded $100 million, the attorneys general said.
The day after the filing of the lawsuits, Reynolds voluntarily stopped promotions for the campaign, the report said.
The Ohio appeals court agreed with Reynolds' appeal that it had no say regarding the content of the magazine's display. Most media publications have a policy of keeping advertising and editorial content separate in preparation for publication.
Because Reynolds did not have any say in the pullout's content, "Reynolds cannot be said to have been 'using' cartoons or 'causing them to be used'," the court ruled.
A spokesperson from the Ohio Attorney General's Office said that the office has not determined whether it will appeal the decision.
Reynolds said that the ruling vindicated its stance that the magazine's advertising personnel approached Reynolds about sponsoring the pullout, and not the reverse. "The court thoroughly evaluated all the evidence presented and came to the right conclusion that we did not cause Rolling Stone to use cartoons in their editorial content," Reynolds spokesperson David Howard told the newspaper.
Stephen Pope, the chief global-market strategist with Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, said that the decision is a ruling "for common sense."
"Advertisers might know the general layout and format of a magazine, and what type of space is available at what price within the magazine," Pope told the paper. "However, the exact nature of the content in a feature or story is neither known to the advertiser nor should they have any influence. Tobacco products in all variants have to carry a wide range of health warnings. Had this case been upheld, it would have been a sad day for common sense."
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