• Ad Age, Thursday, March 1, 2007 11:01 AM

Ad groups have decried as unconstitutional a bid by Sen. Edward Kennedy to let the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco and impose severe curbs on tobacco advertising. In a letter to the Massachusetts Democrat, who chairs the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, the groups says the ad restrictions, which include limiting tobacco makers to black-and-white text ads in most magazine ads and store signs and require additional warning labels do not pass free-speech muster.

"While the government has a legitimate interest in fighting the use of tobacco products by minors, the FDA's proposed regulations sweep far too broadly and result in massive censorship of truthful speech aimed at adults," claim the Association of National Advertisers, the American Advertising Federation and American Association of Advertising Agencies.

They note that the U.S. Supreme Court has previously rejected the 1,000-foot limit and so-called "tombstone" advertising restrictions. "Advertising is not free," the letter continues. "The multiple disclosure requirements would literally 'seize' a substantial portion of the company's space and conscript it for government-mandated messages."

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