Unsmoked out
Saturday, September 30, 2023 at 12:06 Fair play to Philip Morris International.
Despite lamentable viewing figures, they're still churning out videos for their Unsmoke Your World YouTube channel.
This morning, for example, the @InsidePMI Twitter (or X) account proudly informed followers of a video posted on September 21:
When Angelika's friends didn't believe she would leave cigarettes behind, she took action. Discover the story here.
Total number of views in nine days? As I write, 19.
When the channel was launched on January 12 I wrote:
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.
So, nine-and-a-half months later, how's it going? The following videos have all been uploaded in the past month:
- Marinko unsmoked for his best friend (56 views)
- Jaime unsmoked for a happier life (151)
- Eleni unsmoked for music (16)
Videos that were posted two months ago haven't done much better, and sometimes worse:
- Panos unsmoked for his creations (18 views)
- Fotis unsmoked for a new life (56)
Even if you go back nine months (videos were being posted even before the launch of the Unsmoke Your World channel) the results are equally underwhelming. For example:
- Aphrodite unsmoked for herself (41 views)
- Annebel unsmoked to stop a habit (33)
- Haizel unsmoked for wellbeing (39)
And so on.
Meanwhile, what of the videos I highlighted in January. How are they doing?
Well, when I wrote that post 'Bob unsmoked to improve his music', 'Nelleke unsmoked for her family', and 'Astrid unsmoked her fiancé’ had been viewed 16, 13, and 19 times respectively.
Today those figures have leapt to 52, 48, and 44.
The video with the most views in January was ‘Eva unsmoked for art’ (95). Today poor old Eva still can't break three figures – as I write she's stranded on 97 views.
There's not much to add really, so I'll repeat what I wrote in January:
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.
Final thought: how much is this campaign costing PMI? If only they were a public body and we could submit a Freedom of Information request!
Failing that, perhaps they'd like to tell us.
See also: No nicotine - is that PMI’s long-term strategic aim?
Reader Comments (1)
I am sure as long smokers keep funding Phillip Morris, the company will always have lots of cash to carry on stigmatising them to curry favour with those who hate smokers.
Smoke, vape or enjoy HnB but don't buy the products of those who have also funded abusive campaigns against their core consumers. There is no reason in the 21st century why anyone should smoke Marlborough cigarettes or buy products from PMI when there are so many more alternatives on offer from more respectful companies.