\n<\/p>\n
Anti-tobacco campaigners have condemned a global advertising campaign for Marlboro by Philip Morris International (PMI), saying the company is being duplicitous in claiming it wants to end cigarette sales.<\/p>\n
The \u201cI AM Marlboro\u201d campaign \u2013 which experts on the tobacco industry said appeared designed to attract young people \u2013 includes billboards, TV ads and online content.<\/p>\n
Roadside stands selling Marlboro cigarettes in the Philippines have run competitions to win a scooter or campaign-branded merchandise by buying the cigarettes. An Indonesian television advert shows young adults climbing mountains and rehearsing in a rock band.<\/p>\n
PMI has filed or owns campaign-related trademarks in about 20 countries, including Indonesia, Morocco, Bangladesh and Germany.<\/p>\n
PMI\u2019s chief executive, Jacek Olczak, said three years ago that \u201ccigarettes belong in museums\u201d, and that the company was shifting towards alternatives such as vapes.<\/p>\n
However, Mark Hurley, vice-president at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said: \u201cYou can\u2019t claim that cigarettes belong in a museum while launching a global campaign to make Marlboro cigarettes a core part of how young people see themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe campaign exploits young people\u2019s search for identity, belonging and self-expression and ties it to Marlboro cigarettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a company that claims to be moving beyond cigarettes, this looks less like a transition and more like doubling down.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new promotional campaign echoes PMI advertising from more than a decade ago, which used the slogan \u201cBe Marlboro\u201d, and which was banned in Germany over concerns it appealed to teenagers.<\/p>\n
Jorge Alday, director of Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (Stop) at Vital Strategies, said: \u201cThe \u2018I AM\u2019 campaign lays bare the duplicity in Philip Morris International\u2019s claims to want to end cigarette sales.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>Part of the Be Marlboro campaign that was banned in Germany more than a decade ago over concerns that it appealed to teenagers.<\/span> Photograph: Marlboro<\/p>\n Alday added: \u201cLet\u2019s face the obvious: if the company was serious about ending cigarette sales, it wouldn\u2019t be advertising cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers at the University of Bath said the decline in PMI\u2019s cigarette sales had stalled since they announced an ambition to go smoke-free.<\/p>\n Lisda Sundari, chair of Indonesia\u2019s Lentera Anak Foundation, said the campaign was highly visible in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat makes it concerning is not only the cigarette branding itself, but the way the campaign connects smoking with identity, self-expression, confidence, belonging and lifestyle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cA slogan such as \u2018I AM Marlboro\u2019 presents the brand almost as part of someone\u2019s personality or social identity, which can strongly appeal to young people who are still in the process of identity formation.\u201d<\/p>\n She said this was particularly relevant where social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and TikTok played \u201ca central role in youth culture and social interaction\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile tobacco companies may state that their marketing is intended only for adult smokers, the overall style and messaging of campaigns like this can still strongly attract younger audiences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A PMI spokesperson said: \u201cPhilip Morris International today is a drastically different company from a decade ago. In Q1 2026, 43% of our net revenues were generated by smoke-free products, compared to essentially zero when we announced our smoke-free future. The fact is our shipments of smoke-free products have increased every year, while over the past 10 years PMI has sold 240bn fewer cigarettes.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be clear, our marketing is restricted to adults and subject to both our own marketing code and legal requirements designed to prevent youth appeal or access.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anti-tobacco campaigners have condemned a global advertising campaign for Marlboro by Philip Morris International (PMI), saying the company is being duplicitous in claiming it wants to end cigarette sales. The \u201cI AM Marlboro\u201d campaign \u2013 which experts on the tobacco industry said appeared designed to attract young people \u2013 includes billboards, TV ads and online<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2124,1972,13851,1123,1462,24522,364,6104,801],"class_list":{"0":"post-49447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-accused","9":"tag-campaign","10":"tag-exploiting","11":"tag-global","12":"tag-maker","13":"tag-marlboro","14":"tag-people","15":"tag-smoking","16":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}