The renormalization of tobacco consumption in the cultural world with IQOS
March 5, 2020
Par: communication@cnct.fr
Dernière mise à jour: March 5, 2020
Temps de lecture: 3 minutes
At the Bambi Awards in Germany for the media industry in November 2019, celebrities posed on the red carpet against a backdrop of well-known luxury brands. Alongside Mercedes-Benz and Swiss watchmaker Chopard, there was a new name: IQOS, billed as a “reduced-risk” heated tobacco device sold by cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. Philip Morris also worked with British sculptor Alex Chinneck[1] on an installation at Milan Design Week 2019. The work depicts the facade of an old two-story building unzipped like a pair of jeans – meant to signify IQOS’s “notion of openness of the future.” A representative for Chinneck confirmed the partnership.
Cigarette maker Philip Morris International has worked with renowned industrial designer Karim Rashid[2] to create an installation during Milan Design Week 2018. Rashid described his installation, showing two faces meeting, with the IQOS device in the middle, which he called “an intimate device that speaks both avant-garde and original expression.”
In Europe, Asia and South America, the tobacco company has reintroduced tobacco through the IQOS brand at music festivals and art exhibitions. The company also markets IQOS lounges in mountain resorts from the Pyrenees to Andorra.[3] and in fashionable neighborhoods in Rome. Across Europe, it has partnered with “IQOS friendly” bars and restaurants—where smoking traditional cigarettes is banned but IQOS is advertised as acceptable. The promotions are part of a larger “renormalization” strategy by Philip Morris to shed its image as a purveyor of cancer-causing cigarettes. The new products are presented as safer alternatives and associated with a youthful, upscale lifestyle, according to the innovation diffusion process. The stakes for Philip Morris are enormous: the company has invested $6 billion in developing these products in the hope of warding off a downward trend in global sales of traditional cigarettes. The tobacco company’s internal documents underscore the importance of this comprehensive strategy: "to do standardization" a priority of Philip Morris International The document cites "the threats posed by the denormalization of tobacco" - such as lobbying bans and exclusions from international trade treaties and agreements and the need to reverse this trend to stimulate future growth
©Tobacco Free Generation
[1] https://fadmagazine.com/2019/04/11/iqos-world-revealed-by-alex-chinneck-at-milan-design-week-2019/ [2] https://www.vogue.it/news/appuntamenti-eventi/2018/04/17/iqos-karim-rashid-phillip-morris-fuorisalone-2018 [3] https://www.grandvalira.com/fr/iqos-terrace | ©National Committee Against Smoking |
Cigarette maker Philip Morris International has worked with renowned industrial designer Karim Rashid[2] to create an installation during Milan Design Week 2018. Rashid described his installation, showing two faces meeting, with the IQOS device in the middle, which he called “an intimate device that speaks both avant-garde and original expression.”
In Europe, Asia and South America, the tobacco company has reintroduced tobacco through the IQOS brand at music festivals and art exhibitions. The company also markets IQOS lounges in mountain resorts from the Pyrenees to Andorra.[3] and in fashionable neighborhoods in Rome. Across Europe, it has partnered with “IQOS friendly” bars and restaurants—where smoking traditional cigarettes is banned but IQOS is advertised as acceptable. The promotions are part of a larger “renormalization” strategy by Philip Morris to shed its image as a purveyor of cancer-causing cigarettes. The new products are presented as safer alternatives and associated with a youthful, upscale lifestyle, according to the innovation diffusion process. The stakes for Philip Morris are enormous: the company has invested $6 billion in developing these products in the hope of warding off a downward trend in global sales of traditional cigarettes. The tobacco company’s internal documents underscore the importance of this comprehensive strategy: "to do standardization" a priority of Philip Morris International The document cites "the threats posed by the denormalization of tobacco" - such as lobbying bans and exclusions from international trade treaties and agreements and the need to reverse this trend to stimulate future growth
©Tobacco Free Generation
[1] https://fadmagazine.com/2019/04/11/iqos-world-revealed-by-alex-chinneck-at-milan-design-week-2019/ [2] https://www.vogue.it/news/appuntamenti-eventi/2018/04/17/iqos-karim-rashid-phillip-morris-fuorisalone-2018 [3] https://www.grandvalira.com/fr/iqos-terrace | ©National Committee Against Smoking |
