Tobacco billboards come down
05/12/99
Following great controversy and accusations of violating the 46-state agreement with the tobacco industry, Wawa Food Markets has announced that it will take down its billboards endorsing cigarettes.
Tobacco prevention organizations claimed that the billboard campaign promoting special low prices for Marlboro cigarettes violated the tobacco settlement. The settlement prevents the large tobacco companies such as Philip Morris from promoting their tobacco products on billboards. However, the convenience store chain said in a statement that the settlement's ban on tobacco billboard advertising did not include retailers and that the chain was discontinuing the practice voluntarily because it created ``confusion in the marketplace.''