THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508260031
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
The American people often display more common sense than those who propose to lead them. A new poll on proposals to control the promotion of tobacco products is an example.
The poll asked a cross section of the American people a series of questions. A quarter of those who responded were smokers, a quarter were former smokers and half had never smoked.
Respondents were split about 50/50 when it came to the motives behind tobacco advertising. Half thought the ads were mostly aimed at promoting cigarette brands to people who already smoke. Half were more inclined to believe tobacco companies were trying to persuade people to begin smoking, some of them teenagers.
A large majority - 73 percent - thought tobaccos companies ought to be required to sponsor an expensive ongoing advertising effort aimed at discouraging teens from taking up the habit.
But those who responded to the poll drew the line there. They didn't support government proposals to ban or control the commercial speech of tobacco companies. Specifically, they were asked if government should allow only black and white text in tobaccos ads - no color, no pictures. And the answer, according to 53 percent, was no. Government shouldn't have that much say.
Similarly, they were asked if the government ought to be able to ban the use of brand names on T-shirts and other products and the sponsorship by tobacco companies of sporting events and the like. Again, 58 opposed that kind of government control.
There are already strictures on where tobacco merchants can advertise and what they can say. The question of commercial speech extends beyond the specific instance of tobacco. The Supreme Court has been increasingly prone to accord the same kind of First Amendment protection to commercial speech that has long been granted to political speech. That's as it should be.
Clearly, those who responded to this poll weren't tobacco enthusiasts. They think tobacco companies should refrain from promoting their products to teenagers and should be compelled to actively dissuade young people from starting to smoke.
But those who took the poll also seem to have been wary of government control of speech - even commercial speech, even commercial speech for a product they don't especially like. That's not unreasonable. The tobacco habit is bad, but meddling by the government with speech can also be habit-forming. It, like smoking, ought to be avoided. by CNB