Restructuring itself for a better fit with its environment, the company established a Youth Prevention Department, staffed by a senior vice-president in Philip Morris, U.S.A. To look for ways to help reduce smoking among teenagers" (Glover 2008).
The relative lack of sincerity of these claims and the transparent dishonesty of Philip Morris' claim to stop youths from smoking is manifest in the fact that the company recently filed a suit in federal court to overturn a San Francisco ordinance that would ban the sale of tobacco products in convenience drug stores. It proclaims this proudly on a September 2008 press release on its website: "Philip Morris USA sues to overturn controversial San Francisco sales ban on tobacco products." However, teens are more likely than other consumers to use these venues to purchase cigarettes than other consumers. Philip Morris defends its actions as the promotion of freedom for adult consumers, given that tobacco is a legal product, along with the rhetoric of choice and a deregulated marketplace.
Philip Morris extends generous benefits to its employees, and is committed to profit-maximization for its shareholders, in the interest of attracting top talent to the company. It knows that its product is vilified, and not looked upon as sold in an ethical fashion, particularly in the United States, where consumers are especially sensitive about the appropriateness of marketing certain products to children. Movements to divest in tobacco companies continue to pressure the major investment firms: "tobacco-free [mutual] funds are at least as profitable as portfolios including tobacco, if not more so," argues one analyst, and do not have the ethical complications of those funds that include Philip Morris (Fisher 2000, p. 381). Pressure continues to increase regulation on the companies, given that traditionally when taxes have increased...
207). How long Philip Morris can continue its dance of condemning smoking for teens while promoting its product remains to be seen, and if the organizational division between promotion and smoking prevention will seem too hypocritical, even for its employees, over time.
Works Cited
About Altria. (2008). Official Website. Retrieved December 8, 2008 at http://www.altria.com/about_altria/1_2_companiesandbrands.asp
Fisher, Laurie (2000, April.) "Divestment in the tobacco industry." Cancer Causes & Control.
Glover, Willa. (2008). "An exploratory study of key factors of self-organization in organizational systems." Human and Organizational Systems: Fielding Graduate Institute.
Retrieved December 8, 2008 at http://www.geocities.com/cmogata/wwglover.html
Gruber, Jonathan. (Spring, 2001) "Tobacco at the crossroads: The past and future of smoking regulation in the United States." The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 15 (2): 193-212.
Krugman, Dean M & Karen Whitehill. (Fall, 2000), "Teenage exposure to cigarette advertising in popular consumer magazines." Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. 19 (2) 183-188.
Phillip Morris USA. (2008). Official Website. Retrieved December 8, 2008 at http://www.altria.com/about_altria/1_2_1_philipmorrisusa.asp
Philip Morris USA sues to overturn controversial San Francisco sales ban on tobacco products."
2008, September 24). Press Release. Official Website. Retrieved December 8, 2008 at http://philipmorrisusa.com/en/cms/Media/Company_Announcements/2008/PHILIP_MORRIS_USA_SUES_TO_OVERTURN_CONTROVERSIAL_SAN_FRANCISCO_SALES_BAN_ON_TOBACCO_PRODUCTS.aspx
Altria
