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Warning labels and free speech

After reading the Anderson Chang piece, the first thing that came to mind is the fairly recent tobacco product labeling laws in Australia that require the full package to be covered with graphic pictures depicting the consequences of tobacco use and large warnings about the associated risks. Like the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, the new labels in Australia are designed to stop potential smokers from ever picking up the habit. After the introduction of the FSPCA, several tobacco companies filed suit against the government claiming that their free speech rights were being violated by the requirements that 20% of all ads must be made up of anti-smoking warnings and packages of cigarettes must contain large full color warnings similar to those in Australia.

Though the lower courts were split on the outcome, I think it's clear that tobacco companies have no recourse against the act. The tobacco industry is one of the most consistently unethical sectors of business, from marketing tobacco products to children and low-income people, to aggressively fighting anti-smoking regulations in the developing world to make up for declining sales in the west. It has long been known that smoking causes cancer, as well as a number of other health issues. Tobacco companies that have come to terms with selling a product that kills people should not be trusted to apply their own moral compass to the rules around ethical marketing.

 Anderson Chang, The Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, Graphic Warning Labels, and the Future of Commercial Speech, 11 First Amend. L. Rev. 441, 489

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