Fraudulent marketing in the tobacco industry has been going on since the beginning. From seriously misleading health claims to celebrity endorsements to billions spent on annual advertising, the world of tobacco marketing has always been aimed at putting profit ahead of people.
Fraudulent Marketing in Tobacco Advertising
Strict liability is a legal theory that holds defendants liable for injuries relating to their products regardless of their intention. Much of the early tobacco litigation attempted to hold big tobacco legally responsible for this theory, but with very little success. When law firms shifted their arguments toward the many ways in which these companies engaged in fraudulent and deceptive marketing, major victories began to emerge. While much more regulated today, tobacco companies still engage in many of these tactics.
There are many ways in which tobacco companies engage in fraudulent marketing, including fraudulent concealment. Under this legal theory, major big-money cases have been won against tobacco companies with the argument that had the tobacco companies not intentionally and fraudulently concealed the addictive and harmful nature of tobacco products (mainly by underplaying it with semantics), then users never would have tried it.
Fraudulent misrepresentation is another form of fraudulent marketing undertaken by big tobacco companies where they not only conceal material facts related to health and other issues stemming from tobacco but also misrepresent this life-changing information. Using advertising language such as light, low tar, and ultra-light leads consumers to believe that there are healthy tobacco product options when it has been proven and widely known that no amount of tobacco is healthy for anyone. Put differently, light cigarettes are no healthier than regular cigarettes, contrary to how they were advertised.
The bottom line is this: There are multiple legal theories predicated on fraudulent marketing to rest your case on, but you need to get in touch with us now to get started. You should not have to bear the financial burden that comes with the myriad of health issues caused by tobacco, which in many ways, you were tricked into using.
