Regulation Policy

Feds Set To Descend On Cigar Industry

The Federal Trade Commission is moving toward stricter regulation of the nation's cigar makers.

  • It will require the nation's five largest cigar manufacturers to report how much they spend on advertising and promotions -- including use of product placements in movies.

  • Manufacturers would also have to supply detailed reports on their annual sales.

  • It is considering requiring cigar ads to carry a U.S. Surgeon General's warning about health effects.

  • The National Cancer Institute will chime in next month with a lengthy report on cigars -- in an attempt to establish that they are not the relatively safe and nonadddictive products people think they are.

Cigars have become popular in recent years. After a 20-year decline, U.S. sales have jumped 53 percent to 5.2 billion cigars sold since 1993. The increase was not due to greater advertising and promotion, say industry insiders. In fact, the surge in cigar popularity caught the industry totally by surprise, they say.

Source: Bruce Ingersoll, "U.S. Regulators to Raise a Stink About Cigars," Wall Street Journal, February 9, 1998.

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