Tobacco Documents Online

This internal Philip Morris Australia (PM) memorandum by Matthew Winokur of PM Worldwide Regulatory Affairs reveals a gold mine of corporate strategy to "head off regulations" in Australia. Winokur discusses PM's ownership of the Vegemite name, a brand strongly identified with Australia, and the Australian public's resentment of foreign ownership of the name. He discusses what PM may be able to do about it.

Adding to our already strong evidence that PM uses youth programs as tools to stave off regulation, Winokur identifies "concessions" that PM can use when negotiating with the Australian government, with one being "developing campaigns to prevent youth from smoking." Winokur says such a program "should be developed as ammunition if and when needed, since its clear that tobacco issues can move very quickly in Australia," saying "these shorts of projects [youth programs] could help 'move the needle.'"

Winokur considers using the Kraft General Foods name (KGF) to "help tobacco" in Australia, and considers whether doing so would "hamper KGF's agenda." He discusses which individuals could be recruited to help PM attack Australian Ministerial Councils "on the grounds that they 'waste taxpayers' money' and 'cost business.' "

Perhaps most tellingly, Winokur reiterates PM's strategy of broadening any debate on tobacco by shifting the focus off of health issues:

"The objective...is not only to create allies but 'shift the debate' from tobacco to broader issues and thus change the battleground. As long as we try to fight on the anti's agenda, we'll get nowhere."

In a strong denial of the public health role of the World Health Organization and the global health threat caused by their tobacco products, this Philip Morris International (PM) internal memo from Geoffrey Bible speaks of the "extraordinary influence" the World Health Organization has on government and consumers saying, "we must find a way to diffuse this and re-orient [the WHO's] activities to their prescribed mandate." Bible further discusses how PM can use its vast resources (like technology and access to food) to influence governments to turn against the WHO: "In addition, we need to think through how we could use our food companies, size, technology and capability with governments by helping them with their food problems and give us a more balanced profile with the government than we now have against WHO's powerful influence."

Bible mentions that a WHO initiative, a levy on tobacco sales in Victoria and South Australia to buy out tobacco sports and cultural sponsorships, "is a very effective strategy that we must stop."

Bible also speaks of "destroying" government attempts to regulate maximum constituent levels (MCL's) of toxic chemicals cigarette smoke, and links Philip Morris to the set-up of the smokers rights group Forest as well as a seemingly "independent" group called Libertad, which PM used to influence legislation. Bible proposes extending Libertad from France and Australia into other countries "so as to become a major influence in the formation of public policy."

In this 1983 marketing speech, Philip Morris (PM) President Hamish Maxwell cites the importance of PM's efforts to maintain the presence of smoking in the movies to help preserve the social acceptability of tobacco use. Maxwell states:

"RECENTLY, ANTI-SMOKING GROUPS HAVE ALSO HAD SOME EARLY SUCCESSES AT ERODING THE SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY OF SMOKING. SMOKING IS BEING POSITIONED AS AN UNFASHIONABLE, AS WELL AS UNHEALTHY, CUSTOM. WE MUST USE EVERY CREATIVE MEANS AT OUR DISPOSAL TO REVERSE THIS DESTRUCTIVE TREND. I DO FEEL HEARTENED AT THE INCREASING NUMBER OF OCCASIONS WHEN I GO TO A MOVIE AND SEE A PACK OF CIGARETTES IN THE HANDS OF THE LEADING LADY. THIS IS IN SHARP CONTRAST TO THE STATE OF AFFAIRS JUST A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN CIGARETTES RARELY SHOWED UP ON CAMERA. WE MUST CONTINUE TO EXPLOIT NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO GET CIGARETTES ON SCREEN AND INTO THE HANDS OF SMOKERS. THE PMI CORPORATE AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT IS HELPING..."