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Tobacco Companies Return To Television With Anti-Smoking Campaign

A screen shot from a commercial that will air on television starting this week. Under court order, the largest U.S. tobacco companies have to publicize the deadly, addictive effects of smoking, more than a decade after a judge ruled that the industry had misled the public about the risks of cigarettes. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)

American tobacco companies are returning to prime-time TV after decades of being banned from advertising on the air. They'll also be appearing in print.

But the ads won't be selling any products. Instead, the messages are intended as blunt warnings against the dangers of smoking and the addictive properties of tobacco.

The spots are the result of a 1999 lawsuit filed by the Justice Department that sought to recover some of the money spent by the federal government in treating people with tobacco-related illnesses.

Years of legal pushback by the industry delayed the new campaign until it began Sunday. The ads are required to run for 52 weeks.

Mary Rouvelas with the American Cancer Society says the ads have been a long time coming, and she's glad these tobacco companies are being held publicly accountable.

“The industry can no longer hide behind its bad practices, because at the end of the day, these are practices that end up killing people,”

Despite a sharp decline in cigarette use, smoking remains the nation's deadliest preventable cause of illness.

Two companies will foot the bill for the campaign: Altria Group and Winston-Salem-based R.J. Reynolds, which was recently acquired by British American Tobacco.

WFDD reached out to R.J. Reynolds for comment, but the company did not respond.

Sean Bueter joined WFDD in August 2015 as a reporter covering issues across the Piedmont Triad and beyond.Previously, Sean was a reporter, host and news director at WBOI in Fort Wayne, Ind., just a few hours from where he grew up. He also sorted Steve Inskeep's mail as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C.Sean has experience on a variety of beats, including race, wealth and poverty, economic development, and more. His work has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and APM's Marketplace.In his spare time, Sean plays tennis (reasonably well), golf (reasonably poorly), and scours local haunts for pinball machines to conquer.

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