Loopholes and Lapses in the "1997 Tobacco Agreement": Some Devils in the Marketing Details

The proposed agreement between the attorneys general of 39 states and the tobacco industry was announced on June 20, 1997. Central among its provisions are payments to the states by the tobacco industry totalling $368.5 billion over the next 25 years primarily to cover state Medicare and Medicaid costs for illnesses related to tobacco. Written into the agreement are several regulatory restrictions on the advertising and marketing of tobacco products. The industry would gain protection from some smoking-related lawsuits, punitive damages, and class actions. In this article, the authors adopt both consumer psychology and health behavior perspectives in considering a number of the agreement's limitations.