Interviewer asks:
Ultimately, if your aim is to stop every smoker out there from smoking,
why wouldn’t you just stop making cigarettes?
Nevena Crljenko, Vice President, Public Affairs, Philip Morris International, replies:
If Apple stopped producing iPhones today, would people stop using phones?
The answer is no.
The equivalent of that is if we stopped making cigarettes,
a smoker goes tomorrow to the shop,
they’ll buy another brand, and we don't have to imagine scenarios:
We can look at the countries that actually banned tobacco.
Bhutan did it several years ago, banned the use of cigarettes.
South Africa, in Covid-times, banned temporarily the sale of tobacco products and alcohol.
What happened? The market was flooded with illicit products.
So, if there is demand, there will be a supply,
and we believe it’s better to phase out cigarettes, obviously.
And if more people are switching to smoke-free products,
obviously there’ll be less demand for cigarettes.
Philip Morris International's logo appears on screen.
Our progress toward a smoke-free future as of 2025 Q4
-
42 percent
of PMI’s total global net revenues came from our smoke-free business.*
-
>43 million
estimated legal-age consumers of PMI’s smoke-free products.**
-
106 markets
where our smoke-free products are available, providing better alternatives for legal-age smokers.*
-
USD >16 billion
invested to develop, scientifically substantiate, and commercialize smoke-free products since 2008.**
*As of Q4 2025. **As of December 31, 2025. Important note: This information should be read in conjunction with the Philip Morris International Inc. earnings release dated February 6, 2026, as well as the accompanying glossary of key terms, definitions, explanatory notes, select financial information and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures, both of which are available on our Investor Relations page. “PMI,” “We,” “Our,” and “Us” refers to the entire Philip Morris International family of companies..
Interviewer says:
There's a lot of confusion around smoke-free products.
What are they?
Are they really less harmful than cigarettes?
And why are governments banning them completely?
There's a lot to unpack, but let's begin with what a smoke-free product is.
Nevena Crljenko, Vice President, Public Affairs, Philip Morris International, replies:
Smoke-free products are very different products than cigarettes are.
The most known tobacco product in the world.
Cigarettes are lit and burned.
And the smoker inhales the smoke.
Smoke contains thousands of chemicals, many of which are harmful.
Your body is exposed to them and over time it develops into the disease.
So the first principle we developed was let's eliminate the burning process.
We can eliminate the burning process by a couple of things.
We can control the temperature in terms of
how we heat tobacco but not burn it.
That's heated tobacco products.
We can heat the liquid which contains nicotine.
This is e-vapor product (e-cigarettes).
Or we can create oral products such as nicotine pouches,
which basically are not warmed at all.
But the key component, irrespective of how different these products are,
is that they do not contain the burning,
which is the main source of smoking-related diseases.
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Words appear on screen reading:
Let’s talk with Gizelle Baker
Interviewer asks:
Let's look at the way that
these products are marketed though,
because that is a concerning issue for people.
These products are seen to be glamorized.
In fact, people could say that
Philip Morris is just going back
to the old days of traditional tobacco marketing
when it comes to these products.
Gizelle Baker, Vice President Global Scientific Engagement, Philip Morris International, replies:
Well, I think we should first
take a step back and look at what
people's complaints are.
I understand,
and there is a concern.
We absolutely do not want people
seeing these things in a glamorous way.
And therefore,
you need to make sure that you're
marketing these things responsibly.
Who gets access to the marketing?
Limiting access to the product itself.
Making sure you have proper age
verification and access prevention
type things in place
to make sure that these products
make it into the hands of adults who smoke.
And we need
to get people away from cigarettes
as fast as possible and as many
away from cigarettes as possible.
So, in order to do that,
and when you think about how you're
going to do a behavioral change
on that scale, you need to first look at
what are the things
that people like about smoking.
How can we deliver that,
but with lower amounts of harm?
So, smoking is a very social behavior.
We're trying to create
a social human experience
for people who are seeking that,
where they get to try the product,
become aware of it, and hopefully
make a successful switch away
from cigarettes in an environment
that supports them in doing so.
And then you layer on top of that:
Who do we not want to see?
We do not want underage people
being part of that experience.
So, you put age gates in place.
You send your invites to adult
smokers or adult nicotine users.
We need to support the people
who are smoking or would otherwise
continue to smoke
to make this change,
which we know is difficult.
And to be able to succeed at.
words appear on screen reading:
This video is for informational purposes only
on the nicotine pouch category manufactures
under strict standards.
It has no commercial intent
and does not promote product use.
Nicotine is addictive and not risk-free.
Philip Morris International's logo appears on screen.
How we #MakeHistory by creating better choices
Music starts.
Elodie Ly, Lead Life Sciences Projects, Switzerland, talks to camera.
Our team of more than 400 world-class scientists, engineers and technicians are constantly working towards offering current adult smokers a better choice than continuing to smoke cigarettes.
Music ends
Words appear on screen:
Hashtag Make History
Find out more at PMI.com.
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