 Wysłany: Śro 13:22, 05 Sty 2011 Temat postu: Newport Cigarettes Fights to Snuff Menthol Ban-1 |
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| Newport Cigarettes Fights to Snuff Menthol Ban--1
(Reference http://www.olymall.com) Lorillard Inc., maker of the U.S.'s leading menthol cigarette brand, is engaged in a fierce battle to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from banning a product that accounts for roughly 90% of its sales. Among the company's tactics: buying up a host of menthol-bashing Internet domain names, including www.olymall.com, and www.newports-cigarettes.com. Newport Cigarettes, Keeping those names out of the hands of critics is just one part of Lorillard's multimedia campaign to thwart a possible ban. The fight's next round is scheduled for next week, when a special FDA tobacco advisory committee is scheduled to meet to review data regarding menthol products. In March, the panel will recommend whether to extinguish menthol cigarettes altogether―including Lorillard's top-selling Newport brand Cheap Newport Cigarettes. Newport Cigarettes, Some antismoking groups are pressing for the variety to be taken off shelves. They say menthol is particularly enticing to blacks, who have long been a target of menthol marketing campaigns, and to adolescent smokers. Newport Cigarettes, Lorillard, the nation's third-largest cigarette producer, is making preemptive strikes against any possible ban. Companies frequently mount aggressive public-relations and lobbying offensives when under regulatory threat. But the Greensboro, N.C., company's efforts to stave off a ban are more urgent than usual. Given its dependence on Newport, it faces a potential "doomsday scenario if menthol gets banned and they can't keep a majority of their customers," says Philip Gorham, an analyst with Morningstar Inc Wholesale Newport Cigarettes. Newport Cigarettes, In addition to arguing that menthols are no more addictive than regular cigarettes, the company is courting allies, including some African-American groups, to help make its case. Through its public-relations network, Lorillard has enlisted a consultant to get prominent blacks to espouse an anti-ban message in the media newport cigarettes website. Newport is especially popular with African-American smokers, about 80% of whom prefer menthol cigarettes, according to U.S.-government survey data. Lorillard says it has helped amplify the views of outside groups by paying to circulate their press releases on PR Newswire, a major news distribution outlet. The company also uses Twitter and Facebook to link to news articles on the issue.(Reference http://www.olymall.com) |
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