Altria/Philip Morris Shareholders Meeting

DEATH

ALTRIA/PHILIP MORRIS
SHAREHOLDERS MEETING
TALKING POINTS

The Global Toll

4.9 million people die every year from tobacco related illnesses around the world
by 2030 the global death toll is expected to rise to over 10 million deaths every year. That is the equivalent of 95 jet planes crashing each and every day of the year.
by 2030 70% of all tobacco deaths will occur in developing countries
80,000-100,000 young people become addicted to tobacco every day
250 million children alive today will die due to tobacco
One of the greatest tragedies about this epidemic, is that it is entirely preventable. What makes it different from other public health is that there is a whole industry pushing it.

Altria/Philip Morris International Stake

Earns almost 2/3 of its tobacco revenues overseas, and sells 3/4 of its cigarettes outside US
Controls 14% of the entire world market for cigarettes
Marlboro is the global tobacco brand leader
International market increasingly important to the company as domestic market shrinks

Altria/Philip Morris Political Connections

Between the years of 1995 to 2000 donated $10 million to federal candidates and political parties in the US
Has donated a great deal of money to the Bush campaign and many within the Bush administration have close ties to Philip Morris. Karl Rove, senior advisor to the president, served as political consultant for Philip Morris for five years.
Using influence to try and weaken Framework Convention for Tobacco Control and to battle the impending federal lawsuit

Altria/Philip Morris targets youth

In the U.S., since the MSA, tobacco advertising in magazines with high youth readership such as Rolling Stones and Sports Illustrated have gone up by over 35%
In Cambodia, Philip Morris hires attractive young girls to distribute free cigarettes on the street to young boys - these cigarettes are often already lit to force the recipient to smoke it immediately
In Hungary, Philip Morris has launched the Marlboro Classics clothing line, which allows them to continue to advertise their brand without coming in conflict with tobacco advertising restrictions.
In Togo, baby-sized Marlboro cloths are found. Altria/Philip Morris has said before that these cloths are "rip-offs", but haven't done anything to stop them.
In West Africa, the company has sponsored huge concerts at which cigarettes are distributed to children as young as 10.
In Poland, Philip Morris uses the internet to reach out to teens and young adult smokers, especially women.

Altria/Philip Morris's exploitation of the American/Western image

Uses the image of freedom, liberty and prosperity to sell tobacco products with prominent American symbols such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty
Some of its numerous American based names include: American, Americana, California, Colorado, Dallas, Harvard, Kansas, New York, Raleigh Extra and Texas
In 2002, Philip Morris sponsored Andrzej Wajda / Philip Morris Freedom Prize ($US 10,000) on Freedom Film Festival in Berlin. The prize is aimed to support "independent" (i.e. "young" in 99% of cases) movie directors and producers from CEE countries. Andrzej Wajda is most famous Polish movie director, producer, and Oscar Prize winner.
In Togo, Philip Morris advertises chances to win fashionable cloths. An ad features four Africans and a White Westerner, with the word "Fashion" in English, though the official language is French. Three of the Africans shown are women, although smoking among women has traditionally been discouraged in the country.

Bogus "Youth Smoking Prevention" programs

In Thailand, Russia, and dozens of other countries, Philip Morris has launched bogus "youth smoking prevention" programs with a reverse psychology message: "Don't smoke before you're 18." These campaigns are ineffective and studies indicate that they may even encourage teens to smoke. Their primary purpose is win credibility and influential allies, who can maintain a favorable business environment for the company.
In Jordan, Philip launched a YSP campaign to coincide with the promotion of a new line of Marlboro that is made in Jordan and is 30% cheaper than imported Marlboros. Cheap smokes = more smokers.

Altria/Philip Morris Breaks the Law

In Vietnam, Philip Morris launched an illegal promotional campaign with 80,000 gas lighters, 1,500 fuel lighters and thousands of matchboxes, all bearing cigarette brands logos. Under Vietnamese law, cigarette and tobacco advertising is prohibited in any form. Philip Morris escaped fines for breaking the law.
In Australia, Philip Morris illegally targeted young women by using a fashion parade to promote its Alpine cigarette brand. The parade festivities included an Alpine cigarette kiosk where attractive models sold cigarettes along with ice drinks to the parade attendees. The promotion was in direct violation of Australian law, which prohibits the display of tobacco advertisements in public places. Philip Morris pleaded guilty to breaking the ordinance. The maximum fine, however, is only $11,000, which is nothing to a company that boasted $28,672,000,000 in sales in the year 2002 alone.
In Thailand, Philip Morris challenged the country's plans to adopt hard-hitting graphic health warnings, similar to ones now used in Canada and Brazil.
Philip Morris sent a letter to Canada, to inform the country that a ban Canada was considering on the [deceptive] terms "Light" and "Mild" would violate the country's obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization.

Miscellaneous

In Poland, Philip Morris sponsored a contest for journalists who write about disability problems. This contest was part of the broader campaign addressed to disabled people and their organizations, but its main goal is to create positive image of tobacco industry (and presumably obscure the tremendous disabilities and death that the company's own products deliver to its customers)
In Togo, Philip Morris advertises Marlboro with the slogan "The taste of adventure" (but not "The taste of cancer") and Bond Street with the slogan "For those who know" (…"how to pay a company to kill them"?)
Philip Morris has poured millions of dollars into sponsorship of Formula One races, which reach massive audiences worldwide. Turkey has just been chosen to host a Grand Prix in 2005. Tobacco sponsorship of the races would be illegal, according to Turkey's tobacco advertising ban. Turkish tobacco control advocates want Formula One and the tobacco industry to make a public pledge that the 2005 races will be tobacco sponsorship-free. They have refused to do so.

Global Solidarity Against Big Tobacco

U.S. tobacco control advocates don't want successful efforts at home to lead to more death and disease abroad in countries least financially able to counter the epidemic. In many countries, there is little or no budget for tobacco control.
Today, we are here to be a voice for all the young people, especially females, who Philip Morris is aggressively targeting with its death sticks around the world.
Today, we are here to be a voice for our colleagues around the world, who are actively resisting the tobacco industry's quest for ever-increasing profits at the expense of global health.
Today, we are here to be a voice for the 4.9 million people around the world who are killed each year by tobacco. They no longer have a voice at all.
Many low-income countries are already struggling to address a wide range of health issues, e.g. AIDS and malaria. They don't need tobacco-related diseases. Furthermore, money spent on cigarettes diverts valuable resources away from food, housing, education, and healthcare.
Mention that you are involved with Essential Action's Global Partnerships for Tobacco Control program which links groups in the U.S. and Canada with groups in the regions of the world in which Big Tobacco is most aggressively expanding, i.e. Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Central/Eastern Europe. Over 350 groups in more than 40 U.S. states and 100 countries are involved with the program.
Mention examples of how you have communicated/partnered with tobacco control advocates in other countries.

Messages that Our Global Partners Colleagues Want Us to Bring to Louis Camilleri and Altria Shareholders

Click here for a pdf version of the talking points