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Dear A.G.F.,
I was delighted to learn that I'm not the only
one to see through these blatant attempts by Philip
Morris to manipulate of the public through the media;
particularly on TV. This is only a part of an extensive
public-relations campaign the company has been conducting,
dedicated to telling the world about the philanthropic
endeavors of the corporation and its subsidiaries. From
1998 to 1999, Philip Morris' corporate-image advertising
increased by over 800 percent. In the first half of
2000, the company spent $142 million on corporate advertising.
The ads are a subtle attempt to trick
consumers into believing that Philip Morris has always
been a benign member of the corporate world, concerned
with issues like hunger and domestic violence, even
though it spends one and a half times as much money
publicizing its so-called "good works" than
the actual amount it gives away. A cornerstone of this
tobacco giant's image make-over is its "Working
to Make a Difference" ad campaign touting its corporate
charitable giving...such as feeding us the "fluff"
that it furthers important causes such as Meals on Wheels,
the donation of computers to schools, creating minority
scholarships, funding tutors for under-privileged kids,
etc. Companies think it will help them to improve relations
with the public by providing symbolic gestures that
are relatively cheap....lots of companies such as Philip
Morris' other subsidiaries, Kraft and Miller Brewing
, think it's useful to do these symbolic things. But,
in my opinion, it is impossible to say enough good things
about Philip Morris to make up for all the damage this
company has done and is still doing.
As the world's largest and most profitable
tobacco company seeks to polish its public image in
the U.S., it is using similar tactics to gain influence
over the development of an international tobacco control
treaty. With the approach of the World Health Organization's
Convention on Tobacco Control, global tobacco corporations
are reeling from revelations in a recent WHO report
reviewing internal tobacco industry documents which
provide evidence of a concerted effort to undermine
and subvert international tobacco control activities.
Protesting that the study focuses on past abuses, Philip
Morris claimed it would support "sensible"
global regulations if it had a broader role in developing
them. As Philip Morris puts forth its case, much has
been brought to light about the corporation's lobbying
tactics and circumvention of the law from the U.S. to
the Czech Republic to Vietnam.
In Vietnam and Malaysia, for example,
direct cigarette advertising is banned. A recent documentary
film illustrates the gap between Philip Morris's PR
in the U.S. and its practices abroad. One powerful juxtaposition
involves footage of the Senior V.P. for Corporate Affairs
claiming that his corporation stopped giving away free
cigarette samples years ago against images, taken in
Vietnam in April 2000, of young girls receiving free
cigarettes. In the Czech Republic, Philip Morris paid
for a trip to Switzerland for 20 of the country's legislators
just as a law that would affect tobacco advertising
was to be debated in parliament. When they returned,
the law passed. The entire section on tobacco control
was written by, guess who?... Philip Morris!!
The the "bad guy" is desperately
trying to buy a "good guy" image. We must
not fall for it!!
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