Philip Morris wants to reposition itself in Great Britain, which should annoy many smokers.
The Group's best-known cigarette brand is about to end there: Marlboro.
London - This news would have thrown the cowboy out of the saddle for sure: Philip Morris wants to get out of the cigarette business in Great Britain.
The company's best-known brand is Marlboro, which has created an iconic advertising figure with the “Marlboro man” riding on the prairie towards the sunset.
There is even a specific time window for the exit: Philip Morris intends to stop selling cigarettes on the island within the next ten years.
Jacek Olczak, CEO of Philip Morris International, announced this to the newspaper Dailymail.
The end of Marlboro in the UK: e-cigarettes and tobacco heaters
According to Dailymail, Marlboro cigarettes have been on UK store shelves for over 100 years.
But this era is about to end.
As Olczak explains, “traditional smoking” is about to end: “I want to allow this company to leave smoking behind.” But that does not mean that Philip Morris will completely withdraw from the traditional business area.
The CEO says that quitting smoking should be the first choice.
The second choice would be to switch to “better alternatives”.
According to Dailymail, he means e-cigarettes or tobacco heaters.
The end of Marlboro: UK smoke free by 2030
With the Marlboro end, Philip Morris is moving in line with Britain's desire to go smoke-free by 2030.
As the Wochenspiegel reported, the proportion of smokers in the country has already halved in the past 35 years.
In 2019 it was only 15 percent.
That was achieved through consistent smoking laws:
1965 TV advertising banned for cigarettes
2003 Ban on print advertising
2005 ban on sports sponsorship
2007 Smoking ban in public places and in the workplace
2016 Cigarettes may only be sold in unit packs
Great Britain now wants to educate young people more specifically about the health dangers of smoking. In addition, levies on tobacco products are to be used to finance aids in smoking cessation.
At the same time, according to Wochenspiegel, Great Britain supports scientific studies on the safety of e-cigarettes when quitting smoking.
These are by far not considered to be harmless to everyone.
The World Health Organization warns against e-cigarettes because they have not yet been researched enough.
The end of Marlboro in other countries too?
Since the CEO of Philip Morris International explicitly only mentioned Great Britain, it cannot be assumed at the moment that Marlboro will disappear so quickly in other countries as well.
Incidentally, in Germany the Bundestag only voted in June 2021 for an increase in tobacco tax, the taxes for e-cigarettes and tobacco heaters will also be increased with the law. (seg)
