"Kool Mixx" Cigarettes Still on Store Shelves

June 16, 2004 12:00 am

The Associated Press
(Richmond-AP) -- Kool cigarette packs featuring hip-hop and rap music images are being removed from store shelves after complaints from several states and a national anti-smoking group that the promotions target youth.

Officials at Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation, which makes Kool cigarettes, deny that the promotion violates the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that, among other things, prohibits marketing cigarettes to under-age smokers.

Nonetheless, the Louisville-based cigarette maker in a letter dated May 26th advised retailers to remove "Kool Mixx" special-edition cigarette packs from shelves and set them aside for return.

A check this week and last week of some stores in the Richmond area revealed that the products are still being sold.

Local health care executive Terone Green said he walked into a Henrico store where the cigarettes were still being sold. Green wants to know why they cigarettes are still on the shelf.