Tobacco giant Philip Morris International claims it wants a ‘smoke free world’ and the eventual phasing out of cigarettes, hailing its new smoke-free products as the future. But how plausible is that given that globally Philip Morris International still sells almost 800 billion cigarettes a year? The World Health Organisation says there are more than a billion smokers around the world, and that about seven million deaths per year ‘are the result of direct tobacco use’. HARDtalk is in PMI’s research laboratories in Switzerland to talk to the CEO, Andre Calantzopoulos. Are his claims of a smoke free future clever strategic marketing or corporate hypocrisy?
