Race Cars, Bean Bags and Video Games – But Philip Morris Claims It Doesn’t Market to Kids
June 10, 2015
The youth-oriented “Be Marlboro” marketing campaign from tobacco giant Philip Morris International continues to spread around the world. The latest stop: The country of Georgia.
Last month, a “Be Marlboro” promotional event was spotted in a high-end shopping mall in Tbilisi, Georgia. Located in a high traffic area, the “Be Marlboro” display featured two Ferrari race cars and a video game stand surrounded by bean bag chairs in the red and white Marlboro colors. Not surprisingly, the booth attracted the attention of children at the mall.
Philip Morris has claimed, “In fact, all of our marketing and advertising, including this campaign, are aimed exclusively at adult smokers.” But it’s hard to reconcile that statement with an event that associates smoking cigarettes with race cars, video games and relaxing in bean bag chairs.
To date, nearly 65,000 people have signed a petition calling on governments around the world to ban the “Be Marlboro” marketing campaign. The campaign features attractive young people partying, taking risks and falling in love. Government officials in several countries have taken action to stop the campaign after finding that it targets teens, but it has still spread to more than 60 countries.
Philip Morris has tried to hide youth-oriented images from the campaign by taking down videos of “Be Marlboro” events around the world, but we’ve posted many of these images on our StopMarlboro.org website.
Every day 80,000 to 100,000 youth around the world become addicted to tobacco. Without urgent action to ban advertising like the “Be Marlboro” campaign, 250 million children alive today will die from tobacco-related disease.
