industry defense: we’ve changed, and those Philip Morris ads
September 22, 2004 6:13 pm by kruegerTobacco industry defense in a nutshell: we didn’t do it, and we promise not to do it again.
Of course, what Philip Morris’s high-priced lawyers actually said: we didn’t do it, at least in the way you said, and we’re unlikely to do such things in the future. Doesn’t that come out better sounding? That’s what world class legal talent will do for you.
But what about those Philip Morris ads that admit smoking causes disease? Doesn’t that show a changed, honest Philip Morris?
Here’s what the American Council on Science and Health said about those ads:
“When an industry has been lying for more than half a century, then announces it is going to tell the truth but only tells a fraction of the truth, the impact can be as bad as or worse than the original lie.”
“Philip Morris wants you to believe that it is now open and candid, allowing customers to make fully informed decisions, but in reality they have cleverly muddied the waters further…”
“Philip Morris was very careful not to give an overview of the horrors of cigarette-related disease in the United States. For example: nowhere did they mention the fact that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, causally linked to one in every four deaths daily — one in every two premature deaths…”
The complete ACSH item is at:
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.461/healthissue_detail.asp
The reality is, Philip Morris ran those ads not to inform anyone, but to cite at this trial (and in general to brush up its image).
If Philip Morris had actually wanted to inform, nothing stopped them.
They could have said: the product is the leading preventable cause of cancer death in the United States; the product is like no other on the market, because used as intended it kills half its best customers; the product kills on a massive scale. These are accurate statements about smoking and cigarettes. Guess what you won’t find in Philip Morris’s ads.