Philip Morris ran an ad campaign to 'choose' vapes — CONAR made it name itself

Philip Morris Brasil ran a campaign called 'Eu quero escolher' — I want to choose — inviting Brazilians to take part in ANVISA's public consultation on electronic cigarettes, which are banned from sale in Brazil. The ads read as a citizen's call for freedom of choice; who was paying for the message was easy to miss.

CONAR's board accepted the campaign as cause advertising — advocacy on a regulatory question is legitimate speech. But the ruling, unanimous, found the sponsor identification too subtle: consumers were entitled to know whose campaign they were looking at. Philip Morris was ordered to make its brand attribution visible in the materials.

The ruling draws the line for industries speaking as civil society: the regulator does not ban the argument, it demands the name. A company whose product is under a sales ban may lobby in public — but the message must carry the sponsor, not a slogan.