There’s always money in vices

Tobacco company Philip Morris has got a challenge on its hands. The company that once made smoking cool with the Marlboro man has now turned its attention to marketing vaping. And vaping is not cool. Standing on street corners with a cloud of vapour obscuring your head, while faintly smelling like a cheap toilet cleaner, does not equate to anything slightly stylish. And it’s starting to get a bad rap from our policy makers, but not without a fight.

Last week, Wellington city councillors were about to consider creating vape-free spaces but, in the face of a public outcry, they delayed the vote.

I don’t know why they are bothering, when the Government has already announced a plan to regulate vaping, including a ban inside public places like bars, restaurants and workplaces.

The research is against vapers too. The latest and largest research on vaping finds that vapers are significantly more likely to have a heart attack, develop coronary artery disease and suffer depression than those who don’t vape.

It’s getting harder and harder to have a vice nowadays; smoking is all but banned, alcohol is frowned upon, sugar is evil, eating meat and fish is getting a bad rap, and kids are no longer supposed to eat junk food. I fear we’ll soon be living in a world of vegan, non-drinking, exercise-aholics.

But we won’t – and you know why? Because we’re humans, and humans like vices.

One guy who is smart about that is Andre Calantzopoulos, chief executive of Philip Morris, the largest tobacco company in the world. He knows the writing’s on the wall when it comes to tobacco sales, so rather belatedly, in my view, he is changing his own industry by declaring tobacco sales are on the way out and vaping is in.

The company’s public relations spin is that vaping is 95 per cent safer than smoking cigarettes. The more likely truth is that tobacco sales are declining and Philip Morris’ shareholders are seeking a long-term solution to keep dividends coming in.

Calantzopoulos is part of an industry exposing teenagers to a new vice, with young people who have never picked up a cigarette now vaping in record numbers. Just last week, Philip Morris decided to test its new strategy on New Zealand, saying it would remove all its cigarettes from the shelves if, in turn, the Government gave it tax breaks on vaping. Calantzopoulos claims that, if tobacco is going to successfully change its own industry, governments need to play the game with incentives and differentiation.

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had no interest in playing that game and was more than a little sceptical about the motivation behind the move.

I’m also a little sceptical about the Government’s response, as it claws in a whacking $1.7 billion in tobacco tax each year, spending only 3 per cent of the money on helping people to quit.

Vaping may or may not be the answer to getting rid of smoking, but what Philip Morris has long understood is my point: that people will always seek vices, and the industry is committed to serving that need.

Vaping might not always be the vice of choice, but Calantzopoulos is a patient guy and he believes that, in time, regulators will gradually become more open to supporting a number of alternatives to cigarettes. No matter what comes out of this little PR stunt, as Calantzopoulos knows, there will always be a market for vices.

I’m just intrigued to see how they can make a new Marlboro man look cool while vaping.