Tobacco Companies Ordered to Display Cigarette Corrective Statements at Retail

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Convenience stores will soon be posting new signs aimed at the adult cigarette consumer.

On Dec. 6, Federal Judge Paul Friedman signed an order approving a settlement agreement entered into by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Altria Group Inc., Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM USA), R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJRT) and ITG Brands LLC regarding certain corrective statement signage to be displayed in retail stores that have manufacturer cigarette programs in place, reported the National Association of Tobacco Outlets.

Under the order, defendants are now required to display signs in retail stores featuring corrective statements about the health effects and addictiveness of smoking.

The order will go into effect on July 1, 2023 and gives defendants three months to post the required corrective statements. Retailers will display the signs, which will be in English and Spanish, for 21 months.

For examples of the signs, click here.

The order brings to a close a 1999 civil racketeering lawsuit against the largest U.S. cigarette companies, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Following a 2004-2005 trial, the court found that the cigarette companies had defrauded consumers about the health dangers associated with cigarette smoking, according to the DOJ.

"Justice Department attorneys have worked diligently for over 20 years to hold accountable the tobacco companies that defrauded consumers about the health risks of smoking," said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. "Today's resolution implements the last remedy of this litigation to ensure that consumers know the true dangers of the smoking products they may consider purchasing."

According to the DOJ, there are roughly 300,000 retail locations in the United States that sell cigarettes. About 200,000 of those retailers have retail merchandising agreements with PM USA, RJRT and ITG that allow the companies to control how their cigarettes are displayed at those retailers' stores. The order entered by the court this week requires these companies to amend their agreements with retailers to require the placement of corrective statements in retail stores.

"We know that tobacco product marketing in retail stores influences young people to start using tobacco, increases tobacco product consumption and makes it harder for people to quit," said Director Deirdre Lawrence Kittner of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health. "These statements will be an important complement to evidence-based strategies that prevent and reduce commercial tobacco use — the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States."

The point-of-sale corrective statements remedy is the last one issued by the trial court to be implemented. Starting in 2017, the corrective statements also appeared as ads on TV and in newspapers, on cigarette packages, and on the companies' websites and cigarette-brand social media pages.

In May 2022, the parties, along with representatives of several groups of retailers that sell cigarettes, negotiated an agreement that corrective statements would be displayed in retail stores for two years, the DOJ added.