Federal legislation banned cigarette advertising from television in 1971, following the Surgeon General's report which linked smoking to cancer. However, no clear regulations now prevent tobacco companies from using the Internet for marketing. Though the major tobacco companies have not yet launched online ad campaigns, there are strong indications that they are poised to do so. The Smokin' Joe Web site has a separate page featuring celebrities and what they smoke. In its FDA filing, the Center for Media Education explains how the Internet is likely to become a particularly powerful advertising and marketing tool for targeting young people.
Web sites do more than just provide product information.
Because these sites are interactive, young people can enter into a virtual world where everyone smokes and no one is harmed. When full motion video comes to the Internet, as is expected in the next few years, the commercials that were banned from TV could be reborn as powerful new interactive Web sites. The Center for Media Education is a nonprofit consumer group specializing in electronic media issues. Today's filing is part of CME's research, organizing and public education initiative to ensure that children's needs will be met in the new media environment. Copies of the filing are available upon request.