Taking the smoke out of smoking
Listening to society’s voices has led Philip Morris International and its local affiliate PMFTC, Inc. to pursue a bold new vision to deliver a smoke-free future. “With the support of topin- class scientists, engineers, technicians and a state-of-the-art R&D, our bold vision is to transform our business, to replace cigarettes with better alternatives as soon as possible,” said Dave Gomez, communications director for PMFTC Inc. during the “CreativeFest Now” virtual event organized by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of the Philippines held from Nov. 19 to 21. “And that is to take the smoke out of smoking.”
Gomez said they are not in denial that his company belongs to a controversial and highly regulated industry. “We manufacture a product — cigarettes — that has clear health risks, and yet a product that many adult consumers in the world still largely choose to enjoy.”
“We are part of a bigger society and we want to behave responsibly in it,” he stressed.
Part of being a responsible company is listening to consumers and the public in general. Doing so led PMI to get a pulse on what is expected from them, which includes warning consumers on the risks associated with their product, not selling to minors, and developing better alternatives to cigarettes.
“What they told us forms part of our new foundation for the future,” he said. “Today we have made a dramatic move to transform our business to achieve our bold new vision to design a smoke-free future. We are a tobacco company working to achieve a world that is free from cigarettes.”
In the Philippines, taxes on cigarettes are going up every year. Places where people can smoke are getting limited. Health warnings on packs and in retail have gone from small print to large pictures.
Notwithstanding these measures, there are still 16 million smokers in the Philippines with a quit rate of only four percent. The World Health Organization estimates that there will still be more than 1 billion smokers worldwide in 2030, about the same number as today.
For PMI, the challenge and the solution are clear. Gomez said, “We need to transform our business with science and innovation as our bases.”
“Science tells us that anything you light on fire releases harmful chemicals. This is true for the internal combustion engine of a car, the wood in your barbecue and the tobacco in cigarettes,” he explained, adding, “The problem then is burning, and our challenge is to take the smoke out of smoking. Thus we call our vision ‘Delivering a Smoke-Free Future.’
“We are going smoke-free because it is the right thing to do, and our resources today allow for it,” Gomez said.
This vision of a smoke-free future, he said, translates into a call to action called “Unsmoke your World,” or simply “Unsmoke.”
“The Unsmoke message is our foundation. It is the core of our way forward. And it simply reads: ‘If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you smoke, quit. If you don’t quit, change,’” Gomez said.
He stressed that Unsmoke is not a marketing or PR campaign, but a sincere effort to kick-start a dialogue that is long overdue. “We’ve reached a critical mass — smokers and unsmokers alike who want and need an outlet for a conversation, and whose time has come. It’s a conversation within our families, our circle of friends, our regulators and policy makers, and within our society.”
Unsmoke, he summed up, is a conversation about the need to quit cigarettes, or make better choices, and support people who are making it possible.
“This is an opportunity of historic proportions. What if the world came together in the largest conversation ever about ridding the world of smoking and finding better alternatives to cigarettes if smokers don’t quit? We want people to join us to help make this happen, showing that everyone can help make a positive impact,” Gomez said. “We are starting, and encouraging people to join us in a global conversation that inspires human stories — for the people, by the people — with an overarching call to action.”