Truth Initiative analyzes current tobacco industry strategies

A college of experts meeting remotely on June 10 distinguished four types of tactics recently deployed by the tobacco industry.

For several years, the tobacco industry has invested in the smokeless nicotine sector and has been communicating intensively on this topic. The non-profit organization Truth Initiative offers, around its action "Make no mistake: the new brand image of the tobacco industry", a reading grid to decode this strategy of the manufacturers [1].

The mask of public health and citizenship

Four types of tactics were highlighted by the experts summoned:

Positioning yourself alongside public health stakeholders. Manufacturers adopt a discourse similar to that of public health in order to alter public perceptions and divide health stakeholders. They draw inspiration from health vocabulary and in particular take up the medical argument of risk reduction. By emphasizing the issue of smoking cessation and preventing smoking among young people, they seek above all to present their new products as reassuring, in order to acquire new customers among the younger generations. An approach that seems more commercial than motivated by smoking cessation.

Infiltrate scientific research and publicationsThe tobacco industry buys the services of public health scientists in order to publish articles favorable to the industry in established journals. These researchers, funded by the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (an offshoot of Philip Morris International), do not always declare their interests with the industry or make disingenuous statements.

Presenting ourselves as corporate citizens. In the name of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the tobacco industry invests in vast public relations operations claiming to support public health, community or environmental projects. Campaigns claiming to be prevention-related are thus coupled with actions promoting heated/grilled tobacco devices and campaigns to enhance the company's social image, which are much more widely funded.

Influencing public figures and associations. By cultivating a policy of donations and partnerships with personalities and non-profit organizations, the tobacco industry seeks to restore a weakened image and to attract a new, more flattering visibility, particularly among young people.

A commercial speech that seeks to make us forget the responsibility of cigarette manufacturers

The tobacco industry frequently uses the argument of smoking reduction and cessation assistance to justify its actions promoting e-cigarettes and heated/toasted tobacco devices. However, the proportion of e-cigarette users who have actually quit smoking remains uncertain[2] ; the benefit of heated/grilled tobacco in a weaning process has not been demonstrated.

The confidence with which tobacco manufacturers are promoting these new products should not obscure the fact that they currently derive most of their revenue from smoked tobacco products, and that they continue to promote them in countries that do not have sufficiently consistent anti-smoking legislation or in spite of such legislation, which they do not hesitate to violate. While smokeless tobacco products are a strong source of added value and already represent 28% of Philip Morris International's turnover, traditional "combustible" cigarettes continue to constitute 72% of its revenue [3] (90% for British American Tobacco [4]).

Although it communicates on risk reduction and the possibility of reducing or quitting smoking, the industry seems to be mainly seeking to renew its clientele, to make people forget the addictiveness of nicotine and to conceal its own responsibility in the addiction suffered by smokers. Claiming to remedy the tobacco epidemic that it itself caused and maintains, while weakening health and regulatory efforts to remedy it, such is the tobacco industry's communication challenge. An attitude that, according to the authors, is more a matter of commercial cynicism than health civic-mindedness.

Keywords: Truth Initiative, New Products, Marketing, Tobacco Industry, Interference, Nicotine

©Generation Without Tobacco

[1] Truth Initiative, 4 ways the tobacco industry is attempting to rebrand itself. Published June 10, 2021, accessed June 11, 2021.

[2] Truth Initiative, New study: Only 3% of adult smokers used JUUL to quit in past year. Published September 25, 2020, accessed June 11, 2021.

[3] Inquirer, New Philip Morris International CEO pleased over partnership with Lucio Tan. Published on May 9, 2021, accessed on June 11, 2021.

[4] Davies R, Vype maker BAT attracts 1.4m new vape users in three months, The Guardian. Published June 8, 2021, accessed June 11, 2021.

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