Chapter 1, 3.3

Phillip Morris handles the sensitive issues re. smoking by creating a website that almost looks like an anti-tobacco campaign. Versus the sexy/sporty/full of life smokers in ads of the 1970s, the current website presents a soft blue background reminiscent of a hospital site; simple, gentle graphics; and more topics on the front page that oppose smoking than topics that promote its pleasures.

On the website, PM gives information about quitting smoking, stopping underage smoking, and health issues such as pregnancy and smoking, smoking addiction, and the dangers of chewing tobacco (mouth cancer, etc.). I think that the company can justify this as a marketing approach because of the decades of attempted lawsuits against the tobacco industry. But personally, if I have a company that seems primarily to want to tell me how dangerous its products are, something smells like second-hand smoke.