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MediaBuyerPlanner: Newsweek apparently offers editions of the magazine completely free of tobacco ads, for anyone interested enough to contact the company and request one.
An advertisement that looked as though it was placed by the magazine ran last week in The New York Times, according to the newspaper. The ad promised tobacco ad-free issues, saying "Newsweek Inc. is demonstrating its commitment to the health of its readers." It listed a toll-free number for readers to call to make the request.
However, the magazine is actually published by The Washington Post Company, not Newsweek Inc., and it turned out that the ad came from two New York antismoking organizations: the Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island and the NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City.
In 2003, a "selective binding" program was started by New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer and the National Association of Attorneys General in 2003, in which all tobacco advertising was removed from school versions of Newsweek, Time and U.S. News and World Report. Last week's ad in The New York Times was an extension of a campaign that ran when the selective binding program was launched.
According to the director of the NYC Coalition, Newsweek is the only publication of the three that went the "extra step" of offering tobacco ad-free issues to the general public. A spokesperson for the magazine, who confirmed that Newsweek did not place the ad, said that "We have and can provide such tobacco-advertising-free Newsweeks to any individual subscribers who specifically contact us and request them."
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