Marlboro Man banned

last updated 8 January 2015

Brussels

The European Union has outlawed all tobacco advertising in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet, and at international sporting events. The ads are already forbidden on television. Giving away freebie cigarettes for promotions is also now illegal. But tobacco companies can still get the word out through billboards, posters, and movie-theater commercials. Just two of the 15 E.U. countries voted against the new ban: Germany, which said the limits were too restrictive and would hurt its already ailing magazine industry, and Britain, which said they were not restrictive enough. “If there is any gap in the directive,” said British Health Secretary Alan Milburn, “the industry will seek to exploit it.”