I was on TalkRadio this morning talking to presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer.
Subject: Philip Morris's plan to stop selling cigarettes in the UK within ten years and the company's suggestion that to achieve its 'smoke free' ambition the government should unilaterally ban all cigarettes, including those manufactured by PMI's competitors.
Julia is fairly liberal on most things but like many people her libertarian instincts tend to collapse when it comes to smoking.
Nevertheless I have always enjoyed being interviewed by her because she always lets the guest have their say, even when she disagrees with them.
Today was unusual because we were mostly in agreement. In fact I got the feeling that with nanny statists currently in the ascendancy she may be coming round, albeit slowly, to seeing our point of view.
We were caught a bit on our heels by the Philip Morris story so yesterday we were in catch up mode.
Forest's response was issued too late for most newspapers but the BBC included a short quote in an online report that was published yesterday afternoon – see Marlboro maker Philip Morris could stop selling cigarettes in UK.
The most informative article I've read on the subject was published yesterday by The Grocer. Tellingly it began:
Gerald Ratner aside, it’s hard to find a company that makes great play of rubbishing its own products.
See As PMI eyes ‘healthcare and wellness’, could Marlboro Man be saddling up for his last ride?
Meanwhile The Times reports that:
Philip Morris International has closed almost all of its recently opened shops in Britain for its heated tobacco brand, two years after revealing ambitious expansion plans.
Frankly I'm not surprised. On the few occasions I've visited an IQOS store I've been the sole customer, outnumbered by two or three members of staff.
To be clear, though, the closure of some IQOS stores does not represent the end of PMI's heated tobacco experiment in the UK. Far from it.
According to a spokesman, quoted by The Times, IQOS was “growing rapidly and is the number one smoke-free product in the UK”.
It's more to do with a changing business model, with major supermarkets now stocking the device and online sales growing.
Personally I think there's room in the market for e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and traditional cigarettes.
What I object to is PMI's bid to eradicate all cigarettes – including those of their rivals – in a country where their market share is far below that of the companies with the largest share.
As I told Julia Hartley-Brewer this morning:
"It's worth pointing out that Philip Morris’s share of the UK cigarette market is less than ten per cent – which puts the company in fourth place behind its main competitors – so banning cigarettes would have far less impact on Philip Morris than the competition."
To watch the six-minute interview click here. It starts at 3:13:30.
And this is Forest's response, issued yesterday:
“We welcome PMI’s commitment to reduced risk products. However there are millions of adults who enjoy smoking cigarettes and don’t want to quit and that choice must be respected.
“If Philip Morris want to leave smoking behind, good luck to them, but banning cigarettes won’t stop people smoking. It will simply drive the product into the hands of criminal gangs who will happily sell illicit and counterfeit cigarettes to anyone who wants them, including children.
“We support the carrot not the stick approach to smoking cessation. Trying to force smokers to quit by banning cigarettes is illiberal and a fool’s errand that will end badly.”