Newport accused of underage distribution

[PfcHammer]

http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/06260000aaa06d3e.upi&Sys=siteia&Fid=LATEBRKN&Type=News&Filter=Late%20Breaking

Newport accused of underage distribution

BOSTON, June 26 (UPI) -- The son of a Roxbury, Mass., woman, who received free Newport cigarettes when she was 9 years old, is suing the company for his mother's death.

Legal experts say it is the nation's first lawsuit to accuse a tobacco company of deliberately targeting its product to African-American children, the Boston Globe reported Saturday.

Marie Evans, who died from lung cancer at age 54 in 2002, said when she was a child she would regularly get free sample packs of 4 to 10 Newports during company giveaways on the edge of a playground. Evans estimated that she received samples from the "Newport van" 25 to 50 times.

"They have employed these marketing strategies to target not only children, but children in the black community," said Rebecca McIntyre of Weisman & McIntyre in Boston, which is filing the lawsuit against North Carolina-based Lorillard Tobacco on Monday in Suffolk Superior Court. "It's evil."

[Massacure]

1. If smoking wasn't illegal for nine year olds in 1957

Then there is nothing this woman can do.

Is 1957 before the 18 year old law was introduced?

[nosmokes]

5. they knew cigarettes were harmful in 1957

and 9 years is definitely before the age of reason/consent/majority. i hope they take 'em to the proverbial cleaners. big tobacco is the epitome of the heartless corporatism, the bottom line being the only damn thing they care about. good luck to 'em, the attorneys for miss evan's son.

[Journeyman]

2. Stores used to sell candy cigarettes, too. . .

I wonder if a causal relationship can be drawn between those and later smoking habits.

[MetaTrope]

3. Sigh...the roll of film that I lost...

When I visited Malaysia a few years back, I captured a lovely photo inside a shopping mall, of a member of the Marlboro Action Team handing a bag of sample merchandise to a 5-year-old. Oh, for the roll of film that I lost...

[barbaraann]

4. Here's another "marketing" trick the cig companies use:

They give stores counter displays (free) with easily stealable packs of cigarettes so children can steal them. It doesn't cost the store anything, the store does't get in trouble for selling to minors, and the kids get hooked. Wicked and effective.