The core of the issue is two different ads, inserted in the daily press over a couple days during the late summer of 2004. One bore the headline 'Don’t think that low-tar cigarettes are safer or better for you', the other 'Do you think it’s possible to produce a cigarette that is less harmful'. Philip Morris was the advertiser behind the campaign. The campaign ran in 21 different countries before it reached Denmark.
The court found that the two ads were commercial messages and therefore in conflict with section 3 of the Act on Tobacco Advertising, cf. section 1 of the same Act. This resulted in a fine of € 113,000.
Section 3(1) of the Act on Tobacco Advertising makes all kinds of tobacco advertising an offence.
Among the reasons for its decision, the court stated that the ads made reference to the advertiser’s activities as tobacco company, and the defendant’s efforts to develop cigarettes that reduces the damaging effects of smoking. That, the judgement went, should enable adults to make an informed choice of whether to try smoking the new products.
The decision reached by the city court may be appealed against.