NEWS
TOBACCO GIANT PHILIP MORRIS
WANTS TO STOP SELLING
CIGARETTES IN THE UK
It wants smokers to switch to better options instead and
has spent £2.5bn on research and development
Tobacco giant Philip Morris prompted headlines around the world
when it placed full page adverts in the UK press announcing its
New Year’s resolution to stop selling cigarettes in the UK.
When one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies announces
“We’re trying to give up smoking” then people tend to take notice.
The advert says: “Our ambition is to stop selling cigarettes in the
UK. It won’t be easy but we are determined to turn our vision
into reality.”
Instead of the traditional cigarette market, Philip Morris is
concentrating on both e-cigarettes and heated tobacco which it
says offer “a better choice for the millions of men and women in
the UK who would otherwise not stop smoking.”
The company has invested £2.5 billion to date on research and
development and says that as a result of its actions in introducing
new products in many countries around the world “millions of
adult smokers have abandoned cigarettes and switched to
better options.”
The advert went on: “No cigarette company has done anything
like this before. You might wonder if we really mean it. We do.”
The advertisement titled “Our New Year’s Resolution: we’re trying
to give up cigarettes”, ran on January 2 in a number of national
newspapers and the story was soon picked up by media, both
online and offline, around the world.
In addition, the advertisement makes a number of specific commitments for the UK for 2018:
• Launch a website and campaign to provide smokers with information on quitting and on alternatives to cigarettes;
• Offer to support Local Authority cessation services where smoking rates are highest;
• Seek Government approval to insert, directly into our cigarette packs, information on quitting and on switching;
• Expand the availability of new, alternative products in the UK.
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