Hawaii governor says cigarette campaign ruins island image

San Mateo Daily Journal

AP

Hawaii governor says cigarette campaign ruins island image

HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle asked tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds on Tuesday to halt its “Kauai Kolada” cigarette marketing campaign, saying it sullies Hawaii’s reputation as a “place of purity, health and healing.”

In a letter, Lingle asked Andrew J. Schindler, president and chief executive officer of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. to immediately stop the ad campaign for the blend of Camel cigarettes, which uses the Kauai name and a hula girl to promote a new pineapple and coconut flavored cigarette

“The Aloha State has a well-deserved reputation as a place of purity, health and healing,” the letter states. “To associate Hawaii with a product long known for causing death and disease, therefore, is highly offensive to our residents and visitors.”