The tobacco industry used deceptive labeling and remained unrepentant after court rulings

Evidence

The tobacco industry advertised and marketed cigarettes with deceptive descriptions such as “low tar,” and “light” suggesting that they were less hazardous to health. In handing down a ruling against the tobacco companies for deceptive practices, Judge Gladys Kessler charged them with having “marketed and sold their lethal product with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs that success exacted” (Shenon, 2006). The industry was unrepentant. Mark Smith, an R. J. Reynolds spokesperson, reported that executives were “gratified that the court did not award unjustified and extraordinarily expensive monetary penalties.” Judge Kessler’s decision was upheld on appeal, and the tobacco companies had to disclose their deceptive practices to the public. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1645

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 1645