Editorial
Philip Morris International: money over morality?
In the ongoing UnSmoke Your World campaign,
Philip Morris International (PMI) calls for never-smokers
to stay away from cigarettes, for smokers to quit,
and for those smokers who do not quit to change to
better alternatives. The development of those better
alternatives, PMI suggests, is incumbent upon them
and fulfils its commitment to help move the world
towards a smoke-free future. PMI is now navigating
consumers away from cigarettes and towards its
own e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn products. Yet,
controversial marketing strategies targeting young
people and ongoing forceful rebranding of cigarettes in
low-income countries indicate an unprecedented degree
of corporate hypocrisy, and serious concerns about the
safety of the smoke-free alternatives are mounting. One
might say that PMI is looking a little bewildered on its
path towards a smoke-free destination.
The tobacco industry is notorious for misleading
consumers and the general public about the addictiveness
of nicotine and the harmful effects of tobacco smoking.
PMI no longer denies that tobacco smoking causes life-
threatening cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, but
it justifies with an unbearable lightness the role it has
in fuelling the enormous disease burden that is directly
related to smoking. According to the Global Burden of
Disease Study, in 2015 alone, smoking caused more than
one in ten deaths worldwide and killed more than 6 million
people, resulting in a global loss of nearly 150 million
disability-adjusted life-years. The business continues, PMI
says, because fully informed consumers make personal
choices to start smoking regardless of the health risks,
and as long as there is a demand for cigarettes, PMI will
supply them. With sales of more than 740 billion cigarettes
each year, 90% of revenue stemming from cigarette sales,
rising sales and expanding market share in developing
countries, aggressive lobbying, and relentless efforts to
curtail controls and restrictions on smoking put in place
to protect the public, never has there been so duplicitous
or nonsensical a corporate manoeuvre as PMI’s campaign
in promoting a smoke-free future while whitewashing its
role in subverting global tobacco control efforts.
Last week, PMI released Unsmoke – Clearing the way for
change, its second white paper under the UnSmoke Your
World campaign this year. A narrative highly characteristic
of the industry disentangles PMI from any public health
www.thelancet.com Vol 394 August 31, 2019 709
responsibility: “Everybody knows that cigarettes are
harmful and addictive, and yet people continue to
smoke; cigarettes are still permitted by governments
and regulators; they are still manufactured by tobacco
companies including Philip Morris International (PMI);
they are still legally sold.” Blaming others—the consumer,
health advocates, authorities, other tobacco companies—
Rain Ungert/EyeEm
is a recurring theme. Claiming to be clearing the way for
change is hypocritical for a company that refuses to end
its cigarette production until it makes enough money
from smoke-free products or as long as other tobacco See Comment page 718
companies exist to fill the market gap. These are cowardly For the Global Burden of
Disease Study see Articles
excuses. Calling for a smoke-free future starts with the Lancet 2017; 389: 1885–906
courage to cease all cigarette production instantly.
Themes of the white paper are “mindsets toward
smoking, the barriers that are preventing some smokers
from stopping, and the extent to which people are
aware of smoke-free alternatives”. Drawing on findings
from a self-funded online survey, it makes claims that
individuals can strengthen relationships and social lives
by shifting from cigarettes to alternative smoke-free
products. Highlighting peer pressure is a tactic that young
people might be particularly sensitive to. Indeed, vaping
products have gained popularity in this age group. In this
week’s issue, Robert Beaglehole and colleagues make a
case for accepting vaping products as a reasonable harm-
reduction strategy, arguing that although increases in
youth vaping are likely, the public health impacts of these
trends will be small. At the time of press, the US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and
Drug Administration are investigating one death and
nearly 200 cases of sudden severe pulmonary disease,
primarily in adolescents and young adults—all believed
to be linked to the use of vaping products. Clearly, urgent
For the UnSmoke Your World
research from longitudinal studies is in order. campaign see https://www.
PMI continues to thrive on a global addiction to tobacco. unsmokeyourworld.com/
It is a tragedy that money trumps morality when it comes to For more on Philip Morris
International’s controversial
taking corporate responsibility for a global health disaster, marketing strategies see
and it is grotesque for industrial giants to undermine the https://web.archive.org/
web/20170129122320/http://
enormous public health efforts and investments designed global.tobaccofreekids.org/
to inform and protect the public. Vaping as a harm- content/what_we_do/industry_
watch/yourethetarget_report.
reduction strategy will require rapid but robust research pdf
and rigorous safety monitoring systems. Everyone deserves For Philip Morris International’s
white paper see https://www.
a smoke-free future, but the path must be transparent, unsmokeyourworld.com/
informed, and navigated with caution. n The Lancet whitepaper/