The following statement was delivered by Samantha Marinelli, an organizer at Corporate Accountability.
Hello, my name is Samantha Marinelli and I’m an organizer at Corporate Accountability.
I am deeply concerned by the stark contradiction between Philip Morris International’s public messaging and its business reality.
PMI claims to be moving beyond cigarettes, yet Marlboro is still your most profitable brand and remains central to your business strategy. It continues to be prominently promoted at points of sale and in environments that appeal to young people, like music festivals.
PMI is using the same playbook for its newer tobacco and nicotine products like IQOS, Zyn, and Veev. While you say these products are designed to offer alternatives for people who smoke, the evidence shows you are widely marketing them to the general public, particularly to youth.
This doesn’t look like a transition. It looks like a rebranding of addiction.
My question to the CEO:
If you’re truly committed to a “smoke-free future,” why don’t you take the most logical step, which would be to stop marketing the Marlboro brand and stop marketing both cigarettes and new nicotine products to non-smokers, particularly young people?
