The Toxic Truth About Tobacco Advertising

I smoke. I like it.  I know that it's a disgusting expensive habit but it makes you look cool.  Oh, and it's addictive.

However I would argue that advertising has nothing to do with the fact that many people smoke.  I've worked with 3 of the biggest tobacco clients in the world.  PMI, BAT & JTI, or Philip Morris, British American & Japan Tobacco as they are commonly known.

And the truth is this...they have no interest in getting people to smoke.

What they want is for you to pay more for your fags.  It costs them the same to make & distribute cheap cigarettes as expensive cigarettes.  Unsurprisingly they want you to smoke the expensive ones.  That is where the profit lies.  Most companies have the same objective.  Johnnie Walker wants you to buy black not red, but best of all blue.  Airlines want you to fly business not economy, but best of all first.  And big tobacco wants you to smoke Marlboro, not local or worst of all grow & roll your own.

Think about it.  Under communism most people smoked in Russia & China.  Big tobacco didn't come to these markets to get you to smoke.  People there already smoked.  They came to make profits by getting people to smoke more expensive "branded" cigarettes

And here is the shocking truth.  One of the big three above allegedly wants to ban tobacco advertising.  That might sound insane but possibly true.

Think about it.  If a major FMCG company could move into a market, build up 50% market share & 90% distribution & then prevent their rivals from competing with them they would leap at the opportunity.

The only question is which one of the big three is it... ?