Gotta love Philip Morris.
This week, as part of its ongoing 'Unsmoke' campaign, the company featured Anna, a procurement executive, in a tweet that included the quote:
"I quit smoking and switched to smoke-free products three years ago.
"And over a year ago I completely quit cigarettes and nicotine for good."
Great news!
But wait. Does this mean that Anna has given up the alternative reduced risk nicotine products on which the company's future is supposed to depend?
It would appear so.
Intrigued, I invited an investment analyst to comment and this was the response:
A target of replacing cigarettes with reduced risk products has won over many investors. Replacing current customers with no customers is less obvious as a strategy.
It's not going to happen overnight – it will almost certainly take decades for many of today's smokers to quit nicotine "for good" – but I am still confused.
After all, one of the arguments in favour of switching from combustible tobacco to smokeless nicotine products is that nicotine, without the smoke and the tar, is no more harmful than caffeine.
Why then is PMI actively promoting the fact that an employee has not only stopped smoking but has given up nicotine completely?
What message does that send to consumers and investors?
Can you imagine a coffee company promoting a similar message about caffeine:
"I switched to decaffeinated products three years ago. And over a year ago I completely quit coffee and caffeine for good."
Or a soft drinks company:
"I switched to low-calorie, sugar-free cola and now I've given up carbonated drinks completely."
Seriously, I'd love to know what PMI's strategy is.
In the meantime let me remind you of an article I highlighted here in June 2018.
According to Jennifer Motles Svigilsky, a former human rights lawyer now representing PMI:
"[In the short term,] we need to provide alternative choices to smokers who cannot quit [or cannot quit yet]."
Nothing surprising or remarkable about that, but she then added:
In the long term ... "we may not even be in the nicotine business."
The article was sponsored by PMI so this wasn't some off the cuff remark. It was clearly meant to register.
The question is, what lies beyond nicotine for this global behemoth?
Businesses do change tack, sometimes dramatically, so would anyone like to speculate on what PMI will do if and when it moves on from its current business?
See Beyond nicotine and PMI's 2030 vision.
Meet Anna - @InsidePMI’s Procurement Executive from Ukraine.
— Philip Morris International (@InsidePMI) November 16, 2020
She quit cigarettes and nicotine altogether and is sharing her #Unsmoke story on this channel.#UnsmokeYourWorld #Smokefree #UnsmokeDiaries pic.twitter.com/RPrjOoocxs