A new cigarette brand launches tonight, just weeks before New York City’s new smoking ban begins May 1.
Freedom Tobacco, New York City, unveils Legal “microbrewed” cigarettes with a posh party and plans for four-to-six weeks of guerilla marketing, primarily in age-restricted venues via Interference, Inc., New York City.
Freedom CEO Patrick Carroll is a Brown & Williamson veteran who eschews “Big Tobacco” tactics including mass media and “light”
or “all natural” labeling. “We will not participate in any misleading marketing practices. … We do this because Smoking Kills,” says Legal’s Web site.
The brand has limited retail distribution for its Columbia-tobacco cigarettes, but sells them online at itslegal.net. Line extensions with South African and Indonesia are due later this year.
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