PHAI Takes Action Against Puff Bar for Violating Massachusetts’ Ban on Flavored e-Cigarettes
CONTACTS: Mark Gottlieb Meredith Lever (617) 216-0779 (617) 373-8066 mark@3.228.1.30 meredith@3.228.1.30 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Puff Bar Charged With Violating Massachusetts’ Ban on Flavored e-Cigarettes In direct violation of state law, Puff Bar sells flavored, disposable e-cigarettes that appeal to teens BOSTON, MA (June 11, 2020) – Today, the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) at Northeastern […]
New Lawsuit Alleges Coca-Cola, American Beverage Association Deceiving Public About Soda-Related Health Problems
Despite the scientifically established link between consuming sugar drinks and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, the Coca-Cola Company and its trade association, the American Beverage Association, deceive consumers by denying and obscuring soda’s link to those diseases, according to a lawsuit filed today. Bringing the action filed today in the Superior Court of […]
PHAI Joins Center for Science in the Public Interest in Filing Lawsuit Against Coca-Cola for Deceptive Marketing
BOSTON – Two non-profits that use litigation as a public health strategy have joined forces in a lawsuit accusing the Coca-Cola Company (“Coke”) along with the American Beverage Association (“ABA”) of misleading the public about the science that links heart disease, obesity, and diabetes to consumption of sugary beverages. For years, the Public Health Advocacy […]
PHAI’s Gottlieb Discusses New Fantasy Sports Legal Developments on “Broadside” TV Segment
Mark Gottlieb, the executive director of PHAI, discussed the impact of the Cease and Desist orders issued by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman to shut down daily Fantasy Sports sites FanDuel and DraftKings in that state as well as related developments in Massachusetts. This segment of New England Cable News’ “Broadside with Sue O’Connell” […]
Stop & Shop Responds to PHAI’s Demands to Prevent Sales of Scratch Tickets to Kids
In 2014 and 2015, the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) conducted testing to determine whether kids could purchase lottery tickets from the vending machines located in a number of area supermarkets. At markets in Cambridge, Somerville, and Arlington, Massachusetts, a teenage tester was easily able to purchase lottery tickets in every attempt. Massachusetts law expressly […]
PHAI Releases Major Report on Digital Food Marketing to Youth: Urges State Attorneys General to Act
December 19, 2013 The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) at Northeastern University School of Law, along with our partners at the Center for Digital Democracy and Berkeley Media Studies Group, today releases State Law Approaches to Address Digital Food Marketing to Youth. It is a first-of-its kind resource that provides an evidence base and action steps grounded in state […]
PHAI’s Wilking interviewed in Huff Post for Michele Simon’s “Ask a Food Lawyer” feature
Michele Simon is a public health lawyer specializing in industry marketing and lobbying tactics. She is the author of Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back, and president of Eat Drink Politics, an industry watchdog consulting business. Ms. Simon asks PHAI’s senior staff attorney, Cara Wilking, about […]
New study finds McDonald’s and Burger King responsible for 99% of fast-food television ads for kids, suggests industry’s efforts to self-regulate its marketing practices are ineffective
Fast-food companies emphasize toy giveaways and movie tie-ins rather than food products when marketing to kids on television, which suggests that industry is not abiding by its self-regulatory pledges for child-directed marketing, according to a study co-authored by the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of […]
PHAI Publishes Legal Issue Brief on Digital Viral Food Marketing to Kids
Food companies used viral digital marketing tactics, such as “tell-a-friend” web campaigns, to induce children to share e-mail addresses of their friends and spread brand advertising of unhealthy foods among their peers. Even very young children are targeted by these campaigns, which may be considered unfair and deceptive and in violation of state consumer protection laws. […]
PHAI joins the Center for Digital Democracy and others in complaint to FTC over children’s websites’ “Tell-A-Friend” tactics
Today the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston has joined a coalition of children’s, health, privacy and consumer advocacy organizations in a complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against several children’s websites for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The offending children’s websites use a […]
