Johnson & Johnson to Resume Advertising in Florida Markets
One of the major opponents to Florida’s new sales tax on services, Johnson & Johnson, has decided to resume advertising in Florida markets.
Network commercials for Tylenol pain reliever, Band-Aids and other consumer health-care products made by the New Brunswick, N.J.,-based company will begin appearing in Florida television markets within the next few days, said Peter Tyrell, vice president for advertising at Johnson & Johnson.
“We ordered (an end to the boycott) because the tax has been challenged in court, and we’re not in the business of teaching people not to buy our products,” Tyrell said in an article published today by the St. Petersburg Times.
Tyrell didn’t say whether Johnson & Johnson sales had fallen in Florida since the television ad boycott began.
The move by Johnson & Johnson, which is ranked 20th in terms of national advertising spending, represents the first crack in the opposition that advertisers and media interests had mounted to Florida’s tax on services, which went into effect July 1.
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