Tobacco company will pay to settle suit over advertising

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has agreed to end its Camel Farm marketing campaign and pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit by Maryland, which had accused the tobacco giant of using cartoons and brand-name trinkets in advertising to target young consumers, the Maryland attorney general's office announced Wednesday. Maryland's regulator contended that the marketing campaign violated the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that states reached with major tobacco companies when it used cartoons and brand-name giveaways to promote cigarettes. Maryland was one of nine states that sued Reynolds in late 2007, and the first to settle. As part of that settlement, Reynolds also agreed not to distribute any marketing materials created for the campaign, the state regulator said.

- Eileen Ambrose

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