Marlboro cigarettes Essay Example for Free

Marlboro cigarettes Essay Marlboro cigarettes has not responded to the importance of Social responsible by developing and implementing socially responsible, sustainable, strategies and practices. Although Marlboro was directed by law makers and authorities to take actions in order to limit their marketing strategies and define measures to reduce sale of cigarettes to teenagers, but so far, the company has not been able to take any concrete step or action regarding these directives. Although the company plans to implement one of the worlds largest marketing plans in line with corporate social responsibility, however, nothing practical has been to date. Introduction The purpose of this report is to basically look upon to the matter of corporate social responsibility hat tobacco companies have towards the environment and the consumer. For this report, we will specifically target Marlboro, a renowned cigarette brand that is marketed by Phillip Morris. In this report we will see what Phillip Morris has done in order to assume, realize and act upon its corporate social responsibility along with the argument on areas where it still does needs to work in order to assume its responsibility to the fullest. The report will start with a brief introduction of the company, Phillip Morris, followed by a brief paragraph of information on how bad is smoking for health and what are the diseases that generate in a human body due to smoking. Phillip Morris Phillip Morris is an international company that markets tobacco products, mainly cigarettes in over 160 countries worldwide. The share of this company in the international market extends to 15. 6% outside America which makes it one of the biggest tobacco marketing companies around the world. With revenues shooting up to 22. 8 billion dollars, Phillip Morris employs over 80000 employees around the world. Marlboro is one of the major brands that are marketed by the company along with LM, Phillip Morris, Morven Gold and Virginia Slims. However, of all major brands mentioned above, Marlboro is world best selling cigarette brand with customers all over the world. Besides being the best tobacco marketing company in the world, Phillip Morris is also the world’s third best company with respect to profitability in international consumer goods category (Bianco 2003). Marlboro has over 23 different verities of cigarettes under its brand in order to cater to different customers with different tastes and preferences. Marlboro is also one of the brands which spend huge amounts of money for its sponsorships and advertisements as it is evident by the fact that it sponsors one of the most expensive motor sport events along with brands like Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. Smoking Injurious to Health Around 1. 1 billion people around the world smoke daily which include one third of the entire adult population of the world. Other then US and EU, hen we go towards Asia, we see that people who are habitual of smoking smoke so excessively that most of them are known as chain smokers. The moment they put off a cigarette, they light a new one instantly. Although it is not the case that people are not aware of the fact that smoking is injurious to health, they do know this, but the fact is that most of the people know only this much. By this we mean that the technicalities and the diseases related to smoking are mostly ignored by smokers who only know that it is injurious to health and they do not bother to take into account the seriousness of diseases that are caused by smoking. In this part of the paper we will discuss what the diseases that are caused by smoking (Kelder 2005). Before stating the harmful deceases that smoking causes first we need to realize hat there are around 4000 different chemicals that are used to make single cigarette. Some of the chemicals out of these 4000 and their function in daily life are listed below: Nicotine: It is a deadly poison Arsenic: this chemical is used in poisons for killing rats Ammonia: A chemical that is used to make Floor Cleaners Carbon Monoxide: this is one of the emissions from car exhausts Cadmium: a chemical used in daily use batteries Methane: a fuel component Butane: Used to fill lighters Now, a consumer good, that contains all of the above chemicals and goes inside the human directly, no wonder how deadly it would be for health. Smoking actually kills the air sacks in the lungs every time the smoke goes in. The more you smoke, the more your lungs are damaged because these air bags are limited in quantity and they are not produced again. Excessive smoking causes lungs to turn black because of the fact that tar that comes out of the smoke is deposited on the lungs which also blocks arteries that go to the blood. The heart and lungs both get weak and the stamina of a smoker is manifold lesser then a non smoker. Tar also gets deposited on teeth and mouth walls which causes infections and increases the chances of mouth cancer. The stains that are left on teeth damage the teeth and smokers have a high rate of getting dental cavities as compared to a non smoker. T. B and cancer are on of the most common and deadliest diseases that are found in excessive smokers. Cancer is a disease which cannot be cured in many parts of the world today. Even if it can, the treatment is so expensive and difficult, that a cancer patient looses all his fitness, his brain cells get damaged and the patient looses all signs of hair on the body (Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Health Committee 2000). Radiations and therapies have to be daily in order to remove cancer from the blood, however, studies show that once a patient gets cancer, it is very difficult to cure him. Moreover, a smoker has many times more chances of getting cancer then a non smoker. Studies show that out of all those who have lung cancer, 90% of them are smokers. Thus smoking not just only damages your health to a great extent, but, it also ensures that you also live way shorter then a normal non smoker human being. CSR assumed by Philip Morris According to news, Phillip Morris is intending to come up with a new advertising campaign which will be in line with the corporate social responsibility that is required by law makers and authorities for the company to assume. According to Phillip Morris this new advertising campaign will be the world’s largest campaign that will be in line with the corporate social responsibility with respect to tobacco marketing and the corporate world as well. In this marketing campaign, the company would not focus on the benefits of smoking and associating it with different icons in the leading sports and Media industry. Moreover, the company also intends to stop marketing campaigns which are directly promoting youth to consume cigarettes and also it intends to raise prices as required by authorities aim order to control the sale of cigarettes. These are responsibilities that the company should have assumed on its own rather then regulatory authorities imposing them on the company. CSR ignored by Marlboro in the current marketing campaigns. Marlboro along with many other tobacco brands has till date ignored there corporate social responsibility in order to discourage or at least not motivate new consumers to start smoking. Like all other consumer brands, Marlboro has also found to be promoting its brand and motivating consumers to start smoking Marlboro cigarettes as they are the leading brand in the world (Hilts 1996). For this purpose, Marlboro is using different techniques to capture different markets by differentiating its products with the need of the consumer in order to increase sales. However, it does not realizes the fact that the more the company promotes the sale of cigarettes, the more it plays with the consumers lives because it is a proven fact as discussed in the above discussion that smoking cigarettes is an activity that is seriously harmful for human health and excessive use can also be fatal in the form of Lung Cancer. Little information about ingredients on Packets As required by authorities, all Tobacco companies are required to print the ingredients that are used to make a cigarette from paper, to filter and the ingredients of tobacco as well. As discussed above the number of chemicals that are used in cigarette manufacturing is very large, thus the companies are require to at least print the most harmful ingredients of them all in order to provide full information to the consumers about the product that they are consuming. However, when we look at the packaging of Marlboro, none of the chemicals listed above are found in the ingredients section which is against their corporate social responsibility. Surveys suggest that a number of people will at least think of quitting or reduce smoking cigarettes if they find these ingredients on the packing. Controversy of Filters Marlboro along with all the other brands manufacturing cigarettes project to their consumers that the filters that are present at the tip of the cigarette actually prevent a large amount of tar from going into the lungs (Feldmen 2004). However, studies show that the filters only make the smoke smoother for throat and prevent only a small amount of tar from going inside, thus, they ma be taken as useless. The fact about the manufacturing of these filters is that they are made of ammonia which is used for cleaning floors and toilets in domestic use. Moreover, when the smoke goes into lungs after passing through these ammonia filters, they actually reutilize the vaporized fumes of nicotine in the lungs which increases the dosage of nicotine as much twice. Variations in the same brand In order to cater to all segments of the society, Marlboro has a portfolio of around 23 flavors which are designed for consumers of all backgrounds, mentality, tastes and gender. From light to hard, short to long, red to black, Ferrari packs to Marlboro slims for ladies, Marlboro tries to attract smokers from all segments of the society by showing them that Marlboro has all the reasons for them to smoke the cigarette of their choice. Surveys predict that the more the simple a company keeps its tobacco products, the lesser it will attract new smokers, but Marlboro is actually doing the opposite. People are given choices and motivations to smoke and this is one of the reasons why teenage smoking has been increasing drastically. Teenagers are immature enough to try all of the variants that are marketed by Marlboro because every variant offers them something different then the previous one. The roasted tobacco tastes different then the fascinating and attractive Ferrari pack. Marlboro doesn’t realizes the fact that it has to think that the way the number of teenage smokers are increasing due to its marketing campaigns, the count of people having cancer 20 years down the lane would triple the present count today. Exchange of Packs Campaign As far as marketing to that consumer who already smoke is concerned, Marlboro’s latest technique of making non Marlboro smokers to switch to Marlboro includes activities such exchanging packets of non-Marlboro smokers with a brand new special pack of Marlboro cigarettes so that they use Marlboro from then onwards. This activity not only promotes them to consume more cigarettes, but also, this activity requires the consumers to recommend more people about the taste of Marlboro (Michaels 2008). The representatives of the company do not at all inform the consumer about the harms that the consumption may cause to their health; rather, all they take about is the finest tobacco blends and the fresh new taste that Marlboro brings to them. Pricing Also as required by the law makers, Marlboro is required to increase its costs so that the sales of the product can be reduced as it is a demerit good which does not has any benefit of the consumer but it poses a cost to the society and the environment as a whole. However, Marlboro has not taken any such step in this regard; in fact, Marlboro along with many other brands is actually marketing its sale offers online at different forums and portals in order to increase its sells. The special packs that include a special lighter and a fabulous cigarette case are also one of the ways that Marlboro uses to attract more customers. Largest Sponsor of Formula 1 Marlboro is the largest spending sponsor of formula one as it is one of the most watched motor sport event on all sports and TV channels. People from around the world watch this event on television and online, thus Marlboro does not leaves any chance to let go this opportunity and spends heavy sums of money to sponsor the fastest cars like Ferrari and McLaren. The cars are all painted with the brand logo of Marlboro along with the crew which has Marlboro written on them from head to toe (Givel 2000). All across the track and the stadiums, Marlboro tries to fill out every bit of space available with its logo in order to reiterate its logo and brand in the consumers mind. Conclusion Funny as it may seem that many believe on the statement that governments might use smoking as a tool to control population growth in several countries. However, if we look at this matter closely, governments which are not taking serious actions on companies who are not assuming their corporate social responsibility are exactly doing what the statement suggests. The more their approach is lenient towards cigarettes and their marketing, the higher are the chances that the average life of the population will be low as the cases of cancer will grow rapidly and thus the population will reduce. Thus, governments and authorities should look up to this matter more loosely and seriously in order to stop or limit the marketing campaigns of cigarettes for the benefit of the society. Work Cited: Bianco, E (2003). Tobacco industry marketing strategies and women. Womens Health Journal Feldmen, E (2004). Unfiltered: Conflicts over Tobacco Policy and Public Health. Harvard University Press Givel, M (2000). The public health undermined: The tobacco industrys legacy in Missouri in the 1990s. Institute for Health Policy Studies, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Health Committee (2000). The Tobacco Industry and the Health Risks of Smoking: Report and Proceedings of the Committee v. 1 (House of Commons Papers). Stationary Office books Hilts, P (1996). Smokescreen: The Truth behind the Tobacco Industry Cover-Up. Addison Wesley Publishing Company Kelder, G (2005). The tobacco industry under fire. Trial Michaels, D (2008). Doubt is Their Product: How Industrys Assault on Science Threatens Your Health. Oxford University Press