Marketing is one of the defining strengths of PMI and its brands.
Tobacco and nicotine products are heavily regulated around the world. What many people don’t realize, however, is that our own standards are, in many places, higher than those of some governments.
Our marketing practices worldwide follow four core principles:
- We market and sell our products to legal-age adults who smoke or use other nicotine products.
- We warn consumers about the health effects of our products.
- We market truthfully and transparently.
- We respect the law.
Here are a few examples of how these rules apply in our day-to-day marketing:
- We don’t use images of models who are, or appear to be, under the age of 25 (or older where required in some markets).
- Our creative materials must not appeal particularly to anyone underage. In particular, we don’t use characters from children’s TV, cartoons, films, other online video or audio programs, books, or nursery rhymes.
- Advertising and marketing materials are only placed in media channels, venues, events, or locations that are not directed at those under the legal age, and whose audience is reasonably estimated to be at least 75 percent legal age adults (this percentage may be even higher in some markets).
- We ensure that our marketing materials are not placed within 100 meters of, or visible from, facilities attended primarily by anyone underage.
- We don’t advertise on the front or back cover of any print publications destined for general circulation.
- We don’t engage in product placement in movies or on television.
- All advertising and consumable packaging for smoke-free products must have health warnings, even if the law does not require them.
- All our marketing professionals, wherever they are in the world, must uphold these marketing practices at all times.
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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.
Read more on our standards
Compliance and integrity
3 min readDiscover Philip Morris International's compliance and integrity program and Code of Conduct.
Underage tobacco and nicotine use
We are committed to doing our part in preventing underage use of nicotine and tobacco products.
Scientific research
2 min readWe apply rigorous standards to our scientific research and invite independent verification.