Advisory opinion letter to Mr. Scheftel

January 24, 1978 Dear Mr. Scheftel:

This is in response to your January 19, 1978 letter. You had noted receipt of my November 9, 1977 letter to you which gave my opinion on the subject of warning disclosures in cigarette advertisements included in one minute recorded telephone announcements of horse racing results. You then repeated your request for an opinion on the subject by the Commission itself.

Since my November 9 letter, my superiors in the Bureau of Consumer Protection determined that a formal Commission opinion is inappropriate because issues of cigarette advertising are pending in the courts. This decision was communicated to you in the November 21, 1977 letter from Tracy Westen, Deputy Director,

: 92 F.T.C.

Dangerous to Your Health.” This remedy was designed to insure that each time consumers were confronted with a cigarette advertisement they were warned about the grave health risks involved in smoking. While Lorillard by its terms does not cover your proposed activities, the Commission’s power to prohibit “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce” does. Therefore, each of the cigarette advertisements which you propose to run should include the above warning statement. For the medium involved, a clear and conspicuous disclosure should, of course, be in the same language, e.g., Spanish, as the advertisement. It should be transmitted at the same apparent loudness as the advertisement. Its impact should not be diluted by competing background noises. It could appear at the end of the particular advertisement to which it

applies.
Sincerely,
/s/ Russell Hatchl
Russell Hatchl