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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cigarette Ads Snuffed Out In King County Health Officials Hope Billboard Prohibition Will Help Reduce Smoking By Teenagers

Associated Press

The local billboard-industry leader Tuesday began a two-day effort to remove all cigarette advertisements from its Seattle-area signs under an agreement with King County health officials.

The deal was struck with AK Media/NW, the local billboard subsidiary of Seattle-based Ackerley Media Group, which also has billboard operations in Portland, Florida and Massachusetts.

Under a King County ordinance, the company had been required to remove cigarette ads from all billboards within 2,000 feet of a school or playground by Aug. 15.

That posed contractual problems for Ackerley under its agreements with cigarette advertisers. Negotiations with county officials produced an agreement to extend the deadline to Jan. 1 and to remove all cigarette ads, regardless of location.

The choice for Ackerley was whether to “litigate or communicate,” said Randy Swain, AK Media/NW president, at a news conference with County Councilman Greg Nickels.

“Our decision to not accept cigarette advertising was based on what is best for our business, our employees and the children of King County,” Swain said.

“As a result of this agreement, King County is the first county in the state, and possibly the first in the nation, to become tobacco-billboard free,” said Nickels, who brokered the deal in his role as chairman of the county Board of Health.

“King County can be proud to know that it is a national leader in the fight against underage smoking.”

Nickels noted that five years ago Wednesday, he and his family were at the Kingdome to watch the painting over of the Marlboro Man - the removal of cigarette ads from the stadium used by the American League Seattle Mariners and the NFL Seahawks.

“Every day, 3,000 kids light up for the first time,” and 1,000 of those youngsters eventually die as a result, Nickels said, contending that ad restrictions can help reduce those numbers.

The county removal effort began at a billboard across the street from Ackerley offices just south of downtown, where a sign advertised Winston cigarettes.

“Fire up a Real One,” it read, with a stamp declaring the ad to be “no bull.” The surgeon general’s warning that cigarettes can cause lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema formed the sign’s lower border.

The county rule approved last summer would have required removal of about 60 percent of the 279 AK Media/NW billboards promoting cigarettes in the county, Swain said. The company has 1,079 billboards in the county, more than 95 percent of the total.

A group of activist doctors praised the billboard move as a testament to the power of grass-roots campaigning.

“We see this as the beginning of a national effort to ban outdoor tobacco advertising, and we are proud to see it happening in King County first,” said Dr. Robert Jaffe of Washington DOC (Doctors Ought to Care).

The group challenged Ackerley to remove cigarette ads from its billboards throughout Western Washington. Billboards are the largest single outdoor advertiser for cigarettes, the group said. Cigarette ads on company billboards in Pierce County, to the south, already have been reined in by ordinance and the company is negotiating policy now with officials in Snohomish County to the north, Swain said.

Expanding the no-cigarette-ad policy to Portland, Massachusetts and Florida is under consideration, he said, noting that Florida already restricts cigarette advertising.

There was no immediate comment from the Tobacco Institute in Washington, D.C., about Tuesday’s move.