NYT reporteth:

“WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 — A federal judge ordered strict new limitations on tobacco marketing on Thursday after finding that cigarette makers deserved to be punished for a decades-old conspiracy to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.”

Judge Kessler ordered the companies to stop labeling cigarettes as “low tar” or “light” or “natural” or with other “deceptive brand descriptors which implicitly or explicitly convey to the smoker and potential smoker that they are less hazardous to health than full-flavor cigarettes.”

The deception, Judge Gladys Kessler of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia said, resulted in “an immeasurable amount of human suffering.”

In accordance with this ruling, The Consumerist is pulling all deceptive tobacco advertising from the site, especially this banner ad.

Everyone knows clowns can’t smoke through their tears.

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