No More Throwing Smoke

With the 1993 baseball season officially under way, cigarette adsare being snuffed out of the parks - a trend that may cost thetobacco giants their last best bastion of advertising.

Ever since tobacco advertising was banned from television in1971, critics contend tobacco makers have tried to weasel around thelaw by strategically placing huge billboards in the TV camera's eye.The two biggest sellers - Philip Morris' Marlboro and R.J. Reynolds'Winston - are in practically every ballpark that will let them in.

"It's the box seats of sports marketing," said one ad executivewho formerly sold ballpark ad space to Philip Morris, maker ofMarlboro. "And the tobacco makers have become addicted to them."

But the tobacco giants may have to find alternate ad venues. Atthe Houston Astrodome Monday, fans saw an odd sight in center field:the familiar Marlboro sign has been covered with black plastic. Itwill remain that way until the Astros find a new advertiser. Tobaccoads have been banned from the park.

Beginning next season, the Seattle Mariners will outlaw tobaccoads in their ballpark. And the 1995 season will be the last one thatthe Boston Red Sox will allow tobacco ads in Fenway Park. Already, ahandful of major league teams refuse to accept tobacco advertising,including Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium and San Diego's Jack MurphyStadium.

With anti-tobacco sentiment on the rise, Dodger Stadium has alsobanned smoking in the seating areas and rest rooms.

Anaheim Stadium - which also banned smoking in the ballpark -may eventually be pressured to dump the Marlboro billboard. TheAngels do not have a policy on tobacco ads, said Bob Wagner, directorof sales and marketing, "but it may well become an issue in Anaheimvery soon."

The question is moot in Chicago at least for the present, as theCubs don't have any advertising signs that can be seen by the TVcameras. The White Sox have a huge Winston sign over right field butthe contract runs for eight more years and the Sox plan to honor it,said Vice President Rob Gallas.

Meanwhile, New York's Shea Stadium, home of the Mets, is itselfhome to a heated controversy over its center-field Marlboro sign.One anti-tobacco group, SmokeFree Educational Services, is running abiting radio ad campaign that compares the Marlboro billboards to adsthat push drugs to children. The group is urging New York's MayorDinkins to dump the signs.

Last year, the group offered to pay $250,000 if the Mets wouldtake down the Marlboro sign and replace it with an anti-smokingmessage. The Mets declined that offer - and declined to return phonecalls for this article.

And even though the scoreboard at Seattle's Kingdome wasoriginally paid for - at least in part - by giant Marlboro ads,tobacco advertising at the venue has been banned after the season asa result of a new county ordinance. The advertiser replacingMarlboro: McDonald's.

In fact, McDonald's will eventually be paying $220,000 annuallyfor the signage - some $10,000 more than Philip Morris paid for itsMarlboro signs, said Paul Isaki, vice president of businessdevelopment for the Seattle Mariners.