(1) Except as otherwise provided in RCW 43.04.040, the state seal shall not be used on or in connection with any advertising or promotion for any product, business, organization, service, or article whether offered for sale for profit or offered without charge.

(2) The state seal shall never be used in a political campaign to assist or defeat any candidate for elective office.

(3) It is a violation of this chapter to use any symbol that imitates the seal or that is deceptively similar in appearance to the seal, in any manner that would be an improper use of the official seal itself.

(4) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the reproduction of the state seal for illustrative purposes by the news media if the reproduction by the news media is incidental to the publication or the broadcast. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a characterization of the state seal from being used in political cartoons.