Henry Geller, the FCC counsel who helped get cigarette ads banned from TV, dies at 96

The New York Times

Geller, who died on April 7, is credited with helping to save millions of lives. In 1966, recent law school graduate John F. Banzaf III sent the FCC a letter demanding that under the fairness doctrine, those who oppose cigarette ads get equal time with cigarette advertisers. “When his letter came in, it struck a responsive chord, and I thought why not use it?” Geller, the FCC counsel at the time, recalled in an unpublished memoir. Gellar suggested that anti-smoking public service announcements be broadcast for free for every paid cigarette ad. "That proposed formula so unnerved station owners afraid of jeopardizing their licenses, and tobacco companies concerned about competing with powerful antismoking commercials, that Congress was finally able to ban the advertising altogether," according to Sam Roberts. “The industry desperately wanted to stop these counter ads and did so by eliminating its own ads,” Geller said. “From April 1, 1970, forward, all cigarette advertising was eliminated from radio and television.” Banzaf said this week: “Geller fortuitously made new federal law in a most unusual manner, and probably helped to save millions of lives.”