New greenwashing campaign for Philip Morris International
July 17, 2020
Par: communication@cnct.fr
Dernière mise à jour: July 17, 2020
Temps de lecture: 3 minutes
Philip Morris International (PMI), has announced the launch of a new campaign, “Our World Is Not An Ashtray,” whose stated aim is to raise awareness and drive environmental change.[1]. While the ecological impact of the tobacco industry is particularly high, this campaign appears to be a new greenwashing operation.
The tobacco industry: an environmental disaster
In its own words, the tobacco giant wants to reduce plastic waste from its products by 50% by 2025, based on the year 2021. Cigarette butts are indeed a major environmental problem: it is estimated that they represent no less than 40% of waste in the Mediterranean Sea. Each year, 6,000 billion cigarettes are put into circulation across the world, half of which are thrown into nature after consumption. This situation is all the more problematic since cigarette butts are toxic components that contribute to the lasting pollution of soils, plants, and marine environments. Furthermore, most cigarette butts contain filters, themselves made of plastic, which take years to decompose in nature.
The filter: useless pollution
This awareness and change operation is a communication operation intended to restore the tarnished image of the company. The existence of the filter does not find any health justification: it is an invention of the tobacco industry intended to make people believe in a reduction of risks. However, studies conducted on this subject demonstrate that the filter allows you to take deeper and more prolonged puffs, thereby increasing the harmfulness and addictiveness of the cigarette.[2]. So the first step for the tobacco industry in reducing waste would be the complete removal of filters from its products.
This operation can be seen as a circumvention of the ban on all forms of advertising that affects the tobacco industry in a large number of countries. This operation is in fact above all a campaign to make Philip Morris a responsible player and present it as a partner in the construction of a sustainable world. Furthermore, the tobacco industry has regularly opposed measures likely to reduce the environmental impact of their products, such as the establishment of a standard reducing the incendiary nature of cigarettes (RIP cigarettes).
To learn more, watch our video on tobacco and the environment, by clicking on this link
[1] AFP, " PMI Launches “Our World Is Not an Ashtray” Initiative and Aims to Halve Plastic Litter from Products by 2025 ", July 16, 2020
[2] Der Spiegel, " What are you doing against the sheep? ", November 22, 2019
