PMI launches Unsmoke Your World YouTube channel

Great excitement at Philip Morris.

The global tobacco company that funds the Foundation for a Smokefree World and wants the UK government to ban the sale of cigarettes in England by 2030 has launched a new YouTube channel called Unsmoke Your World.

It will feature the ‘real experiences and stories of people around the world that decided to #Unsmoke’.

Although the channel was only launched officially today 18 videos have been uploaded already, some of them up to two months ago.

They come with titles like ‘Bob unsmoked to improve his music’, ‘Nelleke unsmoked for her family’, and ‘Astrid unsmoked her fiancé’.

At the time of writing they have been viewed 16, 13, and 19 times respectively.

Ionel and Delia’s stories are faring no better, with 19 and 17 views respectively, while Aphrodite (who ‘unsmoked for herself’) and Annabelle (who ‘unsmoked to stop a habit’) have been viewed just eight times apiece.

The video with the most views to date is ‘Eva unsmoked for art’ (95) but that’s the nearest to three figures any of the 18 videos have come.

Meanwhile a 19-second trailer, uploaded 22 hours ago, has currently been viewed 52 times (on YouTube). Let’s see if we can get that figure past 100 before the end of the day. Click here to make your view count!

Perhaps I’m being unfair and these figures will skyrocket over the next few months, but it’s worth noting that although this is a ‘new YouTube channel’ it’s not the first time the company has launched a series of ‘Unsmoke Your World’ videos.

Previously however they were posted on the PMI YouTube channel with titles such as ‘Bully (sic) unsmoked for self-discipline’, ‘Alexandros unsmoked for the sea’ and ‘Samboy unsmoked to inspire others’.

Moreover there are now at least two PMI videos with the title ‘Unsmoke Your World’ - the trailer for the new channel (below) and ‘another video’ (2.5k views) produced two years ago.

As you might expect, all these videos are well produced with impressive branding, but they haven’t exactly gone viral.

Full marks though for persistence.