Why Big Tobacco Will Enjoy Admitting It Lied in "Corrective" Ads

Lawyers for Big Tobacco will be jumping for joy at the government's proposal that tobacco companies be forced to run comically harsh "corrective statements" in ads and on cigarette packages. The Department of Justice's proposed messages include: "We manipulated cigarettes to make them more addictive" and "We knew that many smokers switch to low tar and light cigarettes rather than quitting because they believe low tar and lights are less harmful. They are NOT."

There's a "screw you!" quality to some of the messages, as if the DOJ believes the main point of the messages is to humiliate tobacco executives rather than to change public opinion. Another warning would say:Smoking is a classic case study of how to manage a business in decline, and you have to hand it to RJ Reynolds (RAI), Philip Morris (PM), British American Tobacco (BTI) et al., they've done a hell of a job. One in five Americans still smokes, despite every reason not to. The business continues to innovate with new products, such as electronic "e-cigarettes," small cigars, and the Camel Crush, a cigarette that contains a breakable menthol capsule so smokers can turn a regular smoke into a menthol before they light up or even half-way through the smoke. Parliament cigarettes.

Further, each corrective carries the caveat, "Paid for by [Cigarette Manufacturer Name] under order of a Federal District court." In case the DOJ hasn't noticed, America isn't a huge fan of the federal government right now. The notice will just look like more Big Gummint red tape, coming about 15 years too late.

The single biggest threat to tobacco is the threat of prohibition. Many people want that. Doubtless New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who just outlawed smoking outdoors in large stretches of the city, would favor that. But the most important thing about the DOJ's proposals is that they allow the tobacco business to comfort itself with the fact that as long as the government requires warnings and corrective ads it remains, by definition, legal. That's all they want.