Marlboro Maker Plans To Go ‘Smoke-Free’ In The UK Within Next 10 Years
Image via ID 206252705 © Jonathan Weiss | Dreamstime.com
In a surprising interview, the CEO of Philip Morris International (PMI) said that the company plans to stop selling cigarettes in the UK within the next decade. “The sooner it happens, the better it is for everyone,” Jacek Olczak told The Daily Mail.
This may seem like a peculiar comment, considering the tobacco giant makes and sells Marlboro cigarettes outside of the US, but the company has been preparing for the shift towards alternative products. With the UK government planning for the country to go smoke-free by 2030, PMI has set it sights on marketing its tobacco-less e-cigarettes instead.
A spokesperson for PMI told Insider that the firm’s “smoke-free products” accounted for nearly 30% of its sales in Q2 of 2021. By 2025, it foresees the share rising to 50%. “Smoke-free products” include various types of e-cigarettes, which don’t burn tobacco at all or heat tobacco to create nicotine vapor.
“Quitting is the best option, but for those who don’t, science and technology has allowed companies like ours to create better alternatives to continued smoking. Encouraging people who don’t quit to switch to these better alternatives, together with strong regulation will help solve the problem of cigarette smoking once and for all,” said Dr Moira Gilchrist, Head of Global Scientific Communications at PMI.
Though it may still seem strange that one of the world’s largest cigarette manufacturers is encouraging customers to quit, smoking cessation has been a hot topic for the last couple of decades. With smoking tobacco now seen less favorably, it’s no wonder the company is switching its position to e-cigarettes which are seen as the “healthier” and more marketable option.
[via Insider, cover image via ID 206252705 © Jonathan Weiss | Dreamstime.com]
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