A marketing and public relations effort will begin this week on behalf of CAMPAIGN for Tobacco-Free Kids, Washington, DC. The group says Philip Morris, New York, is still targeting children with cigarette advertising despite a recent Philip Morris outreach effort touting its progress in preventing such sales.
Countering Philip Morris’ effort, the CAMPAIGN released a new advertising push of its own, issuing public service print ads for newspaper publications along with a series of letters to government leaders and advocacy groups with the headline “Big Tobacco’s Latest Doubletalk.”
“Policy makers need to beware of Philip Morris’ double talk and judge the company by its actions, not its rhetoric,” said CAMPAIGN president Matthew L. Myers.
“At the same time that Philip Morris is telling policymakers that it is concerned about the problem of underage smoking, it is spending billions of dollars a year to send kids a different message: that smoking is cool and glamorous.”
According to Myers, Philip Morris’ intent is to create the “image of change” in order to block the real change that is needed to restrict cigarette marketing and sales minors.
