When Philip Morris wants to help smokers give up the cigarette

In the series of counter-intuitive marketing strategies, it is now Philip Morris’s turn. The company says it is encouraging adult smokers to stop smoking. Here is what lies behind this rather unexpected announcement.

Towards a “smoke-free future”

Every year, according to the World Health Organization, more than 8 million people worldwide die from a disease linked to tobacco use. Tobacco creates addiction, which is not in doubt. Eighty per cent are in poor or developing countries. The organisation therefore describes tobacco as “one of the leading causes of death, illness and impoverishment”.

Philip Morris is the first cigarette manufacturer to open the ball by advocating a “smoke-free future”, built in particular on electronic cigarettes and tobacco vaporisers. The company states that this transformation of the tobacco industry is also part of a deeper, lasting shift in favour of the environment; it plans to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Sounding like an anti-smoking campaign slogan, the chairwoman speaks of a “smoke-free future” resting on alternatives the company presents as new. Philip Morris says it addresses 6 of the 17 sustainable development goals.

A message that also reaches teenagers

Behind this surprising message, Philip Morris is in fact speaking to a wider, and younger, audience. The manufacturer markets products directly at teenagers and makes no secret of it. It went as far as a partnership with a 21-year-old influencer to promote its IQOS products, before the arrangement was called out and stopped.

On one hand Philip Morris invites adult smokers to give up tobacco in favour of the electronic cigarette; on the other, the company encourages young people, whether or not they smoke, to try vaping. The position is far from unanimously accepted. For the record, the company’s own press release states that its products “are not risk-free”, while presenting them as an alternative to continuing to smoke.