Why I wouldn’t stop my daughters smoking, by boss of tobacco firm
‘Tobacco is an adult choice’
YOU might think most mothers would be keen for their children not to smoke.
Alison Cooper, however, is relaxed about the prospect of her two daughters developing a nicotine habit.
But then Mrs Cooper, 53, is the boss of the world’s third largest tobacco firm.
And she says it is up to her daughters, aged 15 and 23, to make an ‘ adult choice’ about smoking.
Mrs Cooper, the chief executive of Imperial Brands, told the Sunday Times: ‘I’ve always tried to bring them up in a way that they make their own choices in life from an informed position.’
One of only seven women to run a FTSE 100 company, she admits to puffing on the occasional Cuban cigar but says she does not smoke cigarettes.
Asked if she would be dismayed if her daughters began smoking, she replied: ‘I don’t think disappointment is a good role for a mother at any point in time.’
Mrs Cooper joined the company, then known as Imperial Tobacco and best known for Davidoff, Embassy and Lambert & Butler cigarettes, in 1999. She quickly rose up the ranks, becoming chief executive in March 2010. In 2013, Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour named her as one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK and last year she earned £3.93million.
Mrs Cooper, who lives in Bristol with her family, says she works a 12- hour day after waking at 5.30am and enjoys cooking with her daughters in the evening. She has spoken out against positive discrimination and gender quotas in the boardroom – and acknowledges the health risks of smoking. ‘I was very clear when I took on this role that tobacco is an adult choice,’ she told the Sunday Times.
‘It is a controversial product, with health risks, and therefore how that product is sourced and marketed is really important.’ The number of smokers in the UK is declining year- on-year.
Last year it fell below 15 per cent in England for the first time, to 6.1million. However, there are still an estimated 7.4million smokers aged over 18 throughout Britain and the tobacco industry remains a lucrative market – with firms such as Imperial vying for space in the vaping and e- cigarette market.
Under UK law, cigarettes must be sold in plain green packs with health warnings detailing the dangers of smoking covering at least 65 per cent of the packet.
The warnings include ‘Smokers die younger’ and ‘Smoking causes fatal lung cancer’.
BBC journalist Jon Sopel has been criticised by the British Lung Foundation for giving a paid speech to bosses at the world’s biggest tobacco firm.
Sopel, 59, the Corporation’s North America editor, delivered an off-the-record address at Philip Morris International’s staff conference in Florida last week.