The "Be Marlboro" campaign originally launched in 2011 in
Germany, though it has expanded to more than 50 countries,
according to the report, which said it's intent is to revamp
Marlboro's image among "young adult smokers" and replace the
Marlboro Man. But what it really does, the report charges, is
target kids and teenagers and get them hooked on cigarettes
early.
According to the report: "While tobacco companies claim publicly
that they do not market to youth or design marketing campaigns that
target them, a 2013 study conducted in low- and middle-income
countries showed that 22% of five- and six-year-olds surveyed were
able to correctly identify Marlboro cigarettes, the world's
best-selling cigarette brand."
The report said that the company is using strategies that can be
found in documents that were previously undisclosed but have since
been made public, thanks to the massive tobacco settlement in the
'90s among tobacco companies and many U.S. states. According to the
report, these documents show that tobacco companies targeted kids
as young as 13 and that such targeting increased youth smoking
rates.
It points specifically to the
Archetype Project, which the report said outlines how to market
to teens: "Using concepts and imagery consistent with the
recommendations of findings from previous Philip Morris internal
research on marketing to teens, the 'Be Marlboro' campaign draws on
youth-oriented images and themes that suggest to young people that
they should be a Marlboro smoker."
John Stewart, the Challenge Big Tobacco campaign director at
Corporate Accountability International, said that "the tactics to
get teens to smoke in the U.S. were being exported to low- and
middle- income countries where regulations had yet to take
root."
In response, Philip Morris said in a statement, "Our Marlboro
campaign, like all of our marketing and advertising, is aimed
exclusively at adult smokers and is conducted in compliance with
local regulations and internal marketing policies. Allegations to
the contrary are unfounded and based on a subjective
interpretation." Leo Burnett declined to comment.
The report calls for countries to enforce strict bans on all
tobacco advertising in accordance with the World Health
Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control -- a treaty
originally from 2003 that now has some 177 countries signed on --
which seeks to regulate tobacco consumption and policy, including a
comprehensive ban on all advertising in the countries that are part
of the treaty.