Opinion ID: 199007
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: First Amendment Challenge to Advertising Restrictions

Text: 22 The next claim, urged by all three groups of tobacco companies, is that the advertising restrictions imposed by the Massachusetts regulations violate the companies' First Amendment right to freedom of speech. We find this contention unpersausive.
23 The tobacco companies first argue that the advertising and promotion restrictions at issue here should be subject to a more searching review than the intermediate scrutiny traditionally applied in commercial speech cases. See generallyCentral Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n of New York, 447 U.S. 557, 561-66 (1980). According to the companies, the regulations target tobacco advertising because of its content and therefore shouldbe subject to a more demanding First Amendment analysis. The Attorney General, in contrast, characterizes the regulations as content-neutral and urges us to deferentially apply the Central Hudson test for commercial speech restrictions. 24 First, we repeat our conclusion (reached in the preemption analysis) that the regulations are content-based. The regulations apply only to advertising the purpose or effect of which is to promote the use or sale of the [tobacco] product. 940 C.M.R. §§ 21.03, 22.03 (defining advertisement). Advertising of other products is not restricted by the regulations, nor is tobacco-related speech that has a purpose or effect other than promotion, such as public health campaigns. Contrary to the Attorney General's suggestion, this type of focus is plainly content-based. 25 Such conclusion does not, however, require a greater level of scrutiny than the standard Central Hudson analysis. The tobacco companies argue that the regulations amount to inherently suspect viewpoint discrimination because they ban only speech that invites the purchase of tobacco products. However, the Supreme Court has made clear that even regulations which single out the promotional speech of a particular industry are analyzed under the Central Hudson test. See Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Ass'n v. United States, 527 U.S. 173, 184 (1999) (applying Central Hudson to regulations restricting advertisements for casino gambling). 26 The tobacco companies nevertheless argue that our decision in AIDS Action Committee v. MBTA, 42 F.3d 1, 11 (1st Cir. 1994), supports the application of a higher level of scrutiny. In that case, Boston's transportation authority refused to display public service advertisements for the AIDS Action Committee on the purported basis that the ads describe[d] sexual content in a patently offensive way, id. at 5, but agreed to carry ads with similar or more explicit content by other speakers. We held that this disparity gave rise to an appearance that the suppression of speech was based on the identity or perceived viewpoint of the speaker, particularly because the transportation authority did not even attempt to articulate a neutral justification for the disparate treatment. See id. at 11. In contrast, the Attorney General here has not distinguished among speakers by disparately applying a facially neutral provision. On their face, the regulations restrict the promotion of tobacco products, regardless of brand or manufacturer, and permit nonpromotional speech relating to tobacco products by any speaker, tobacco manufacturers and sellers included. The companies make no allegation that the Attorney General has disparately, much less discriminatorily, applied these provisions. Under these circumstances, we do not see the danger of viewpoint discrimination that was present in AIDS Action Committee, 8 and we decline to impose a higher level of review on such basis. 27 In declining to impose a more searching review than that mandated by Central Hudson, we are aware of the recent rumblings from members of the Supreme Court and others suggesting that the Central Hudson test may be in need of minor or major modification. See, e.g., Greater New Orleans Broad. Ass'n, 527 U.S. at 184 ([C]ertain judges, scholars, and amici curiae have advocated repudiation of the Central Hudson standard and implementation of a more straightforward and stringent test for assessing the validity of governmental restrictions on commercial speech.). Nevertheless, it is not our role to anticipate changes in well-established constitutional doctrines. See Buzynski v. Oliver, 538 F.2d 6, 7 (1st Cir. 1976) (Although there are circumstances in which it is appropriate for a court of appeals to disregard the teachings of earlier Supreme Court decisions, generally the Supreme Court has the exclusive authority to overrule its decisions. (citation omitted)). We are therefore bound to apply the Central Hudson test, as is, to this case.
28 In Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission of New York, 447 U.S. 557, 566 (1980), the Supreme Court summarized the four-part analysis used to determine the constitutionality of governmental restrictions on commercial speech: 29 At the outset, we must determine whether the expression is protected by the First Amendment. For commercial speech to come within that provision, it at least must [1] concern lawful activity and not be misleading. Next, we ask [2] whether the asserted governmental interest is substantial. If both inquiries yield positive answers, we must determine [3] whether the regulation directly advances the governmental interest asserted, and [4] whether it is not more extensive than is necessary to serve that interest. 30 Under this analysis, the government bears the burden of identifying a substantial interest and justifying the challenged restriction. See Greater New Orleans Broad. Ass'n, 527 U.S. at 183. Mindful that the four prongs of the analysis are to a certain extent, interrelated, id., we will consider them seriatim. 31
32 Although the Attorney General is unwilling to entirely concede that the tobacco advertisements at issue here are truthful, nonmisleading speech about a lawful activity, he was willing to assume that much for the purposes of summary judgment. We therefore need not explore this prong of the analysis. 33
34 The second prong of the Central Hudson test requires that the state identify a substantial state interest underlying the challenged regulations. Several such interests have been identified by the Attorney General. 35 The first state interest proffered by the Attorney General is the Commonwealth's desire to eliminate deception and unfairness in the way [tobacco products] are marketed, sold and distributed in Massachusetts. 940 C.M.R. §§ 21.01, 22.01. Leaving aside for now whether such interest is served by the regulations, we have no doubt that it is a substantial state interest. Indeed, the state interest in protecting consumers from false and misleading commercial information was the original justification for a more permissive First Amendment analysis in the commercial speech area. See, e.g., Central Hudson, 447 U.S. at 563-64. 36 The next state interest identified by the Attorney General is the Commonwealth's aim to address the incidence of [tobacco] use by children under legal age. 940 C.M.R. § 21.01; see also id. § 22.01. This general state interest is subdivided in the briefs into two distinct, but related, interests. First, the Attorney General asserts a state interest in ensuring compliance with state law, which prohibits the sale of tobacco products to minors, and we consider that interest substantial. Second, the Attorney General relies on the state's interest in protecting the health of children from the negative effects associated with the use and abuse of tobacco products, which is also substantial. 37 The tobacco companies argue that Massachusetts cannot have a substantial interest in depriving consumers of truthful information in a paternalistic effort to protect them by keeping them in the dark. We certainly agree with this proposition insofar as it relates to adult consumers, in which circumstance the First Amendment mandates that the consumer, rather than the government, judge the value of the information being communicated. See, e.g., 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, 517 U.S. 484, 503-04 (1996). However, the courts have consistently recognized that the government may act more protectively where children are concerned. See Erzoznick v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205, 212 (1975) (It is well settled that a State or municipality can adopt more stringent controls on communicative materials available to youths than on those available to adults.); Anheuser-Busch, Inc. v. Schmoke, 101 F.3d 325, 329-30 (4th Cir. 1996) (citing cases in support of the proposition that children deserve special solicitude in the First Amendment balance because they lack the ability to assess and analyze fully the information presented through commercial media). Where, as here, the state acts to protect minors, its substantial interest is not vitiated by the admittedly paternalistic nature of its regulation. 38
39 A great deal of the written and oral argument submitted in this case has concerned the third prong of our Central Hudson analysis -- whether the Massachusetts regulations directly advance the Commonwealth's interests. After a careful review of the record, we hold that the regulations satisfy this prong of our inquiry. 40 The Supreme Court has recently emphasized that the government's burden regarding this third prong of the Central Hudson analysis 41 is not satisfied by mere speculation or conjecture; rather, a governmental body seeking to sustain a restriction on commercial speech must demonstrate that the harms it recites are real and that its restriction will in fact alleviate them to a material degree. Consequently, the regulation may not be sustained if it provides only ineffective or remote support for the government's purpose. 42 Greater New Orleans Broad. Ass'n, 527 U.S. at 188 (quoting Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U.S. 761, 770-71 (1993), and Central Hudson, 447 U.S. at 564). The companies and the Attorney General dispute both whether the harms recited by the Commonwealth are real and whether the regulations will alleviate them to a material degree. Although the two aspects of the inquiry are closely interrelated in this case, we address them separately for the sake of convenience and, hopefully, clarity. 43
44 Like so many contentious issues in the law, the dispute over whether the harms cited by the Attorney General are real is in part a dispute over the level of generality at which the inquiry itself should be made. The Attorney General, adopting a broader perspective, urges that the record and common sense amply support his contention that there is a problem with underage tobacco use, in the United States generally and in Massachusetts in particular. The Attorney General further asserts that this problem of underage tobacco use is substantially related to, and thus may be materially alleviated by restrictions upon, advertising. The tobacco companies, on the other hand, urge a more narrow perspective. They argue that the Attorney General has failed to demonstrate a teen cigarette smoking problem in Massachusetts, and that he certainly has shown no problem with underage consumption of smokeless tobacco or cigars. Furthermore, the companies charge, to the extent that there may be a problem with tobacco use by minors, the record does not establish any connection between such underage use and the types of indoor and outdoor advertising and promotion restricted by the regulations. The Attorney General's principal response to the companies' emphasis on product-specific analysis, which response was accepted in large part by the district court, is that the three types of tobacco products subject to the regulations pose similar health concerns and similar dangers in the way they are promoted, and thus may and should be regulated pursuant to one common scheme. 45 First of all, we have some difficulty accepting the Attorney General's suggestion that what is good for cigarettes is good for cigars, at least in the First Amendment context. To accept such a proposition could conceivably open the door to unforeseen and unjustified speech regulation on the mere theory that products are related or share ingredients. On the other hand, of course, the Attorney General need not offer separate justifications for regulation of green and red M & M's, to give an exaggerated example, and our commercial speech doctrine must allow the legislative and executive branches to make reasonable economies in their regulation of comparable products. However, we need not decide today whether, and under what circumstances, a regulation by association scheme might be acceptable in the commercial speech context, because we find that the Attorney General has offered sufficient product-specific evidence regarding cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and cigars to demonstrate that the dangers posed by underage use of each is a real harm and that the regulations can be reasonably expected to alleviate those harms to a material degree. 46 Before addressing the product-specific information presented by the Attorney General, however, we do note that he is not the first to recognize that tobacco use, particularly among children and adolescents, poses perhaps the single most significant threat to public health in the United States. FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 120 S. Ct. 1291, 1315 (2000). After conducting the most extensive rulemaking procedure in history, the Food and Drug Administration promulgated regulations not unlike those issued by the Attorney General. See 61 Fed. Reg. 44619-45318. Although the Supreme Court recently struck down the FDA regulations because it found that the agency did not have authority to regulate tobacco products, the Court explicitly emphasized the seriousness of the problem that the FDA has sought to address and stated that the agency had amply demonstrated its significance. Brown & Willamson, 120 S. Ct. at 1315. At this level of generality, we feel that the risk of harm posed by tobacco use, and particularly by underage tobacco use in this country, is established beyond reasonable dispute. Again, we need not decide whether this alone satisfies the real harm aspect of the directly advances prong, however, because the Attorney General has provided us with additional information to support his view that underage use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, and cigars poses a real danger to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 47 i(A). Cigarettes 48 The Attorney General's case is strongest against cigarettes, which have become emblematic of the health risks associated with tobacco use in this country. In his summary judgment papers and in his submissions to this Court, the Attorney General refers at length to precisely the kinds of studies and summaries of statistical and anecdotal evidence accepted by the Supreme Court to justify commercial speech restrictions. SeeFlorida Bar v. Went For It, Inc., 515 U.S. 618, 626-28 (1995) ([W]e have permitted litigants to justify speech restrictions by reference to studies and anecdotes pertaining to different locales altogether, or even, in a case applying strict scrutiny, to justify restrictions based solely on history, consensus, and 'simple common sense.' (citations omitted)); Affidavit of Michael G. Hering and exhibits thereto, Joint Appendix at 1184-3087. These submissions are replete with evidence that smoking, particularly by minors, poses a significant risk to the public health and is a widespread practice. See, e.g., U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General (1994), Joint Appendix at 1203, 1223 (Cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence produces significant health problems among young people, including cough and phlegm production, an increased number and severity of respiratory illnesses, decreased physical fitness, and unfavorable lipid profile, and potential retardation in the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function.); Massachusetts Dep't of Pub. Health, Adolescent Tobacco Use in Massachusetts: Trends Among Public Schools Students 1984-1996 (1997), Joint Appendix at 2272, 2281. As such, they are more than sufficient to demonstrate that the harm cited by the Attorney General is a real one. 49 i(B). Smokeless Tobacco 50 The makers of smokeless tobacco products present two principal arguments for why, even assuming that Massachusetts could justify its regulation of cigarettes, the use of smokeless tobacco products does not present a comparable problem. First, the smokeless tobacco producers argue that the vast majority of the information relied upon by the Attorney General to justify the regulations concerns cigarettes specifically and not smokeless tobacco. Second, they point to studies indicating that, whatever national trends may exist, smokeless tobacco consumption by minors has actually decreased in Massachusetts during recent years. We address these arguments in turn. 51 The smokeless tobacco producers are correct that the Attorney General has been able to garner more information on the use and negative effects of cigarettes than of other tobacco products. However, the Attorney General does point to various sources specific to smokeless tobacco, including the relevant parts of the FDA regulations struck down but factually accepted by the Supreme Court in Brown & Williamson, as well as independent published studies. See, e.g., Choi et al., Does advertising promote smokeless tobacco use among adolescent boys? Evidence from California, Joint Appendix at 2516. Furthermore, the state's brief sets forth substantial anecdotal evidence detailing the highly successful marketing of smokeless tobacco to young consumers beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Of course, the companies object that this data is dated and that it does not specifically evaluate the impact of outdoor advertising such as that principally targeted by the Massachusetts regulations, but we think that such objections demand more than Central Hudson requires. The Attorney General has adequately demonstrated that smokeless tobacco consumption by underage users poses a real danger. 52 The companies' second point is that the Massachusetts Department of Health study upon which the Attorney General largely relies actually shows a sharp decline in the use of smokeless tobacco by young people in Massachusetts between 1993 and 1996, in which time such use fell from 8.0 percent to 4.5 percent. See Mass. Dep't of Pub. Health, Independent Evaluation of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, Joint Appendix at 3752. Although we understand the companies' frustration at increased regulation while current efforts seem to be bearing fruit, we do not think that partial successes in fighting underage smokeless tobacco use robs the Commonwealth of its authority to remedy what remains of the problem. Even according to the study emphasized by the smokeless tobacco makers, a not-insignificant number of minors continues to use smokeless tobacco products in Massachusetts, and nothing submitted by the companies contradicts the Attorney General's evidence that this remaining use poses a significant health risk to those users, now and as they age. We therefore conclude that the Attorney General has satisfied this aspect of his burden with regard to smokeless tobacco products. 53 i(C). Cigars 54 The cigar makers largely echo the first argument pressed by the smokeless tobacco makers above -- that the Attorney General impermissibly relies on studies and anecdotal evidence concerning cigarette smoking to justify regulation of cigars. Again, we find that the state has presented sufficient evidence to support its conclusion that underage cigar smoking constitutes a real harm. 55 The Attorney General relies heavily on a monograph published by the National Cancer Institute in 1998. See National Cancer Inst., Monograph 9, Cigars: Effects and Trends (1998), Joint Appendix at 2572. As that study sets forth in more detail, cigar smoking presents a serious risk of disease, comparable in type and severity to that attributed to cigarette smoking. See id. at 2588. The study also concludes that the data on cigar use among adolescents is also alarming, referring specifically to Massachusetts for evidence of a substantial level of cigar use, even prior to high school. Id. at 2598. We think that this evidence weighs very heavily in the Attorney General's favor. 9 56 The Attorney General also relies on anecdotal evidence of the successful advertising campaign waged by smokeless tobacco in the 1960s and 1970s (mentioned above) and a similar successful campaign by cigarette manufacturers in the 1940s and 1950s. He argues that these advertising campaigns have demonstrated a willingness and an effectiveness on the part of tobacco producers in the use of image-related advertisements to stimulate tobacco markets, and that minors are particularly susceptible to this type of advertising. The companies argue that this anecdotal evidence is dated and cannot establish a link between youth cigar smoking and advertising, particularly not the kind of advertising at issue here. Once again, we think that the standard urged by the tobacco companies demands more than is required by Central Hudson and its progeny. The Attorney General has sufficiently demonstrated that cigar use among minors poses a real danger in Massachusetts. 57
58 The second aspect of the third prong of the Central Hudson analysis is also hotly disputed by the parties. The tobacco companies argue that the Attorney General has failed entirely to demonstrate that advertising causes underage smoking or that advertising restrictions of the type at issue here will have any effect on underage tobacco use, much less result in a material reduction. The companies pointedly attack the studies submitted by the Attorney General and assert that several of those very studies decline to assert a cause-effect relationship between advertising and smoking. The Attorney General responds with a common sense argument on the causal relationship between advertising and product use, supported by a number of studies and anecdotal evidence demonstrating at least a correlation between advertising and tobacco use in general and among children in particular. We think that the Attorney General has carried his burden. 59 The common sense argument asserted by the Attorney General -- that advertising has some cause-effect relationship with consumption -- is not a novel one. Indeed, the Supreme Court recognized in Central Hudson itself that [t]here is an immediate connection between advertising and demand. 447 U.S. at 569. More recently, in Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co., 514 U.S. 476, 487 (1995), the Court found it assuredly a matter of 'common sense' that a restriction on advertising of a product characteristic will decrease the extent to which consumers select a product on the basis of that trait. But see Greater New Orleans Broad. Ass'n, 527 U.S. at 189 (While it is no doubt fair to assume that more advertising would have some impact on overall demand for gambling, it is also reasonable to assume that much of that advertising would merely channel gamblers to one casino rather than another.). After all, the five leading cigarette manufacturers spent approximately $5.66 billion on advertising and promotion in 1997, and nearly $300 million on outdoor advertising alone. See Federal Trade Comm'n, Report to Congress for 1997, Joint Appendix at 2544. It would defy common sense to conclude that for-profit corporations which have demonstrated their ability to survive and flourish in the market would pour such tremendous resources into advertising without at least some calculation that their efforts would have a substantial effect on consumption of their product. As a general proposition, we think that common sense does support the Attorney General's position. 60 The Attorney General, however, does not rest on common sense arguments alone. He cites myriad sources to support his proposition that tobacco advertising and tobacco use are causally related, including notably a Surgeon's General's report concluding that cigarette advertising appears to increase young people's risk of smoking, see U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General (1994), Joint Appendix at 1203, and the FDA's extensive investigation and finding that advertising plays a material role in the decision by those under 18 to use tobacco products, see 60 Fed Reg. 44466 (1996), Joint Appendix at 1513. Nearly two thousand pages of the joint appendix in this case consist of reports and surveys by governmental, scientific, and academic entities submitted by the Attorney General in support of his dual proposition that tobacco use by minors poses a real risk and that tobacco advertising contributed materially to this problem. 10 Although we decline to summarize that material here, we have no difficulty concluding that it is sufficient to satisfy the Attorney General's burden of demonstrating that the restrictions will alleviate the harm caused by underage smoking to a material degree. 61 The smokeless tobacco and cigar manufacturers also repeat the argument that the majority of the materials submitted by the Attorney General concern primarily or exclusively cigarettes, and that such materials cannot justify restrictions on smokeless tobacco and cigar advertisements. We agree that the cigarette regulations are the supported most abundantly, in terms of the sheer size of record submitted by the Attorney General. That, however, is not determinative. The product-specific information submitted by the Attorney General, taken in conjunction with the other statistical and anecdotal information presented, is sufficient to carry his burden. See Florida Bar, 515 U.S. at 626-28. 62 Finally, the cigar manufacturers argue that the Massachusetts regulations cannot reasonably be expected to reduce cigar consumption in Massachusetts, because the advertising of cigars is nearly nonexistent in comparison with the pervasive promotion of cigarettes. For instance, the cigar makers do not use any billboards in Massachusetts, and they spent only $50,500 on outdoor advertising in the entire United States during 1997, compared to the nearly $300 million spent by the leading cigarette manufacturers in that year. While this argument is a forceful one, it fails to persuade us that the regulations are unjustified. Although the regulations will necessarily have a small impact on the amount of existing advertising (because relatively little exists), they will remove any outdoor advertising that does currently fall within 1000 feet of a school or playground, thus protecting those particular children. As the Attorney General has demonstrated, children exposed to tobacco advertising near their schools and play areas are likely to be affected by its message. Although fewer children will be affected by cigar advertising, simply because there is much less of it, the relative lack of current cigar advertising also means that the burden imposed on cigar advertisers is correspondingly small. We cannot conclude that, under these particular circumstances, the First Amendment bars the Attorney General from regulating cigar advertising of the type targeted here, especially when we consider that he has done so as part of a rational and well-founded comprehensive tobacco regulatory scheme. 63 In sum, we conclude that the Attorney General has carried his burden of demonstrating that the regulations will directly advance his goals of reducing both underage tobacco use and tobacco sales to minors. 11 Less advertising may reasonably be expected to reduce the consumption of tobacco products by current users, insofar as there will be fewer reminders to stop at the store to pick up a pack of cigarettes, a can of smokeless tobacco, or a cigar (at least on the way to and from schools and playgrounds, where Massachusetts has focused its efforts). Moreover, the restrictions on advertising should reduce the number of new or future users by reducing the visibility of tobacco products to minors, by dispelling the advertising-encouraged notion that tobacco products are pervasive and form part of the good life, and by eliminating the psychological incentives to tobacco use presented by things as simple as attractive ad color and design (aspects of advertising which we agree may reasonably be assumed to have greater effect on young people). Because the Attorney General has submitted sufficient data to demonstrate the harms posed by underage tobacco use and to support his view that the regulations will diminish underage tobacco consumption in both of these ways, we conclude that he has satisfied his burden under prong three of the Central Hudson analysis. 64
65 The fourth and final prong of the Central Hudson analysis requires that the government not restrict more speech than necessary to achieve its purposes. In Board of Trustees of the State University of New York v. Fox, 492 U.S. 469, 477 (1989), the Supreme Court explained that this is not a least restrictive means standard. Summarizing its holding, the Court stated: 66 What our decisions require is a 'fit' between the legislature's ends and the means chosen to accomplish those ends--a fit that is not necessarily perfect, but reasonable; that represents not necessarily the single best disposition but one whose scope is in proportion to the interest served; that employs not necessarily the least restrictive means but . . . a means narrowly tailored to achieve the desired objective. Within those bounds we leave it to governmental decisionmakers to judge what manner of regulation may best be employed. 67 Id. at 480. We hold that the Massachusetts advertising regulations satisfy this requirement. 68 The companies' first argument that the Massachusetts regulations are not sufficiently tailored to satisfy the First Amendment is that, although the regulations facially apply only to areas within 1000 feet of a school or playground, the actual effect of the regulations is to prohibit virtually all advertising in as much as ninety percent of the land area of Massachusetts' three largest metropolitan areas, Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. Although this is certainly a valid point (even the Attorney General concedes that the reach of the regulations is substantial), it does not vitiate the tailoring of the speech restrictions in this case. While the amount of land within 1000 feet of a school or playground may be substantial, its sheer size cannot defeat the obvious connection to the state's interest in protecting minors, which is served directly by limiting application of the regulations to areas near schools and playgrounds -- areas where children are more likely to be. We also find no indication that the Attorney General adopted the 1000-foot rule as a proxy or pretext for a more general ban on tobacco advertising, in the Commonwealth's largest metropolitan areas or elsewhere in the state. Under the circumstances, we do not think that the substantial geographical reach of the regulations violates the First Amendment. 69 The companies also challenge the 1000-foot rule itself, arguing that it is both arbitrary and overly extensive. However, the Supreme Court in Fox explicitly noted the difficulty of establishing with precision the point at which restrictions become more extensive than their objective requires, and provide[d] the Legislative and Executive Branches needed leeway in fashioning effective but proportionate commercial speech regulations. SeeFox, 492 U.S. at 480. The Attorney General based his 1000-foot determination primarily on the FDA's implementation of a comparable rule in its 1996 regulations, which, as noted, followed an extensive rulemaking procedure. Such reliance on the conclusions of a lengthy federal investigation should hardly be called arbitrary. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the industry has voluntarily refrained from billboard advertising within 500 feet of schools since 1990, which suggests that they recognize the value of such restrictions in principle. The contention that 500 feet is acceptable but that 1000 feet is somehow arbitrary strikes us as splitting hairs, particularly because this type of determination is generally better suited for legislative and executive decisionmakers than for the courts; in any event, it is a greater judicial second-guessing than is appropriate under the Central Hudson analysis for commercial speech restrictions. In the end, one thousand feet -- a mere three city blocks -- does not strike us as an unreasonable distance in which to assume that minors present at or on their way to or from schools and playgrounds would be most affected by outdoor advertising. Whether or not it is a perfect fit, it is a reasonable one, and that is what is required by Central Hudson and Fox. 70 Oddly enough, the district court struck down the 1000-foot boundary in the context of indoor advertising, concluding that the Attorney General had offered no basis for it other than the FDA regulations, which themselves did not restrict indoor ads. The Attorney General has appealed this aspect of the district court's decision, and we reverse, largely for reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph. It is hardly unreasonable for the Attorney General to determine that stores within 1000 feet of schools and playgrounds -- that area where children are most likely to be present -- will also be more likely to receive minors as customers. In fact, we do not doubt that the companies would have challenged the rationality of the Attorney General's regulatory scheme if it did not include restrictions on advertisements at the point of sale. We do have some misgivings about the effectiveness of a restriction that is based on the assumption that minors under five feet tall will not, or will less frequently, raise their view above eye-level, but we find that such determination falls within that range of reasonableness in which the Attorney General is best suited to pass judgment. In any event, the burden on speech imposed by the provision is very limited (there are no restrictions whatsoever on advertising above the five-foot level, so long as it is not visible from the street), and we find the compromise to be narrowly tailored and a reasonable fit. Fox, 492 U. S. at 480. 71 The tobacco companies' next argument is that the Attorney General may not regulate commercial speech when there exist several reasonable alternatives that would restrict no or less speech. In particular, the companies argue that Massachusetts should be required to more stringently enforce current laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, and perhaps make tobacco use itself illegal for minors, before restricting tobacco advertising and promotion. We are not persuaded by this line of argument in this case. First, Massachusetts has not chosen speech restrictions as its first or only punch in its fight against underage tobacco use. To the contrary, the Commonwealth is widely considered a leader in many aspects of tobacco regulation. See, e.g., Center for Disease Control, Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs (Aug. 1999), Joint Appendix at 684 (referring throughout to Massachusetts as a leader in tobacco control). Although the companies question this characterization, they offer no evidence to the contrary, nor do they offer any persuasive evidence that the state is neglecting to conscientiously and vigorously enforce its current laws. Second, in light of Fox, we do not think that Massachusetts should be required to criminalize underage tobacco use before it can regulate tobacco advertising around its schools and playgrounds. There are legitimate reasons why the state may not want to make underage tobacco use a crime; after all, the state's motivation is to protect children, not to institutionalize them. Third, the principal function of advertising is to propose a commercial transaction, in this case the sale of tobacco products -- which, where minors are concerned, is already illegal in Massachusetts. And finally, while criminalization of underage tobacco use or possession (or stricter enforcement of existing laws, for that matter) might reduce the amount of current tobacco use, it is unlikely to serve the government's interest in reducing the demand for tobacco products among young people. The advertising regulations, in contrast, can reasonably be expected to reduce demand. For all of these reasons, we conclude that Massachusetts need not exhaust yet more alternatives in its ongoing efforts to curb underage tobacco use before restricting commercial speech in the targeted way that it does with the regulations. 72 The next area of dispute between the parties concerns the alternative modes of communication left open to tobacco manufacturers and retailers. The Attorney General emphasizes that the regulations do not restrict advertising and promotion in print media, such as newspapers and magazines. The tobacco companies, in response, note that tobacco advertising is already prohibited from television and radio. 12 They also point out that, while newspaper and magazine advertising may be a viable alternative for major manufacturers and some large retailers (as evidenced in part by the prevalence of cigarette and cigar ads in magazines), such media are cost-prohibitive for many vendors of tobacco products such as small groceries and convenience stores. These smaller vendors of tobacco products, the companies argue, are left without any reasonable alternative means for communicating with the public. 73 Although we find this argument quite a strong one, it does not require invalidation of the regulations because it does not vitiate the narrow tailoring of the restrictions on speech. After all, only businesses within 1000 feet of a school or playground -- the area reasonably determined by the Attorney General to present the greatest exposure to minors -- will be affected by the regulations. And even within those areas, the regulations as written explicitly permitted retailers to display so-called tombstone signs. See 940 C.M.R. § 21.04(6). These signs would have allowed retailers to communicate to legitimate consumers the availability of tobacco products, albeit less forcefully than larger, more colorful advertising. Unfortunately (for tobacco sellers), the district court found this aspect of the regulations preempted by the FCLAA, and the Commonwealth has not appealed that ruling. We nevertheless are of the view that this compromise established by the regulations, as written, is indicative of the kind of calculation by the Attorney General that the First Amendment requires of government when it seeks to restrict commercial speech. See Fox, 492 U.S. at 480. And, although the striking of the tombstone exception measurably increases the burden on tobacco sellers (or rather removes an alleviating factor), 13 we cannot conclude that this vitiates the reasonable fit otherwise established by the regulations. 74 Finally, the tobacco companies suggest that the regulations are not sufficiently tailored because they deny communication to a large number of adults for the sake of protecting children. However, the cases referred to by the companies, such as United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., 120 S.Ct. 1878, 146 L.Ed.2d 865 (2000), Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997), and Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205 (1975), do not support their position. First, each of those cases dealt with expressive speech, rather than commercial speech, and therefore applied a strict scrutiny standard to invalidate the laws, rather than the intermediate scrutiny applicable to commercial speech cases. Furthermore, even in that context, the Court held that the objective of sheltering children does not suffice to support a blanket ban if the protection can be accomplished by a less restrictive alternative. Playboy Entertainment Group, 120 S.Ct. at 1886-87 (emphasis added); see also Reno, 521 U.S. at 874 ([The law's] burden on adult speech is unacceptable if less restrictive alternatives would be at least as effective in achieving the legitimate purpose that the statute was enacted to serve.). Here, although the geographical scope of the advertising restrictions is substantial, we do not find the restrictions equivalent to a blanket ban on speech. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine how Massachusetts might effectively shield children from tobacco advertising near schools and playgrounds without incidentally burdening adult communication in that area as it does. The regulations themselves address this problem by providing an exception for indoor advertising in any establishment that excludes minors, see C.M.R. § 21.04(5)(b), as well by the very fact that the advertising restrictions are focused on areas where children are most likely to be present. Consequently, we think that the burden imposed on adult commercial communication within the 1000-foot perimeter is not so great as to render the regulations invalid under Central Hudson.
75 In conclusion, we hold that the advertising restrictions imposed by the Massachusetts regulations do not violate the First Amendment. The regulations directly advance the substantial interests identified by the Attorney General, and their restrictions on commercial speech are proportionate to the state's purposes. As the Supreme Court has stated, [w]ithin those bounds we leave it to governmental decisionmakers to judge what manner of regulation may best be employed. Fox, 492 U.S. at 480. 76