The Daily Ping

Philip Morris disgusts me. Not just for their typically cold-hearted corporate ways, but for their disgusting use of so-called charity or public service for their own sleazy marketing campaigns.

You’ve seen the commericals: kids telling their parents, “We listen to what you say. We know it’s our choice not to smoke.” They seem like feel good commericals until you see the “Paid for by Philip Morris” line at the bottom of the screen. Not such a feel good commercial about not smoking when it comes from one of the tobacco industry’s biggest players.

Wanna see something even more sickening? Go to Philip Morris’ home page. What’s the second link on the page, only after “About Philip Morris?” Yup: Philanthropy. Philip Morris has a series of commericals (and a web campaign, apparently) patting themselves on the back for all the good they’ve done in the world. But doesn’t philanthropy stop being philanthropy when it’s only marketing fodder? Real philanthropy would be if they took the millions of dollars (150 of them) spent stroking their own ego and put that money towards charitable causes and then shut the hell up about it. Anything positive that comes from doing something good for someone is negated when you feel the urge to tell someone about it. Note that the $150 million spent on advertising about their charitable work was a full $25 million more than they actually spent on the charities themselves.

Here are a few links to look through to help remind you why Philip Morris isn’t a philanthropic company in the least, just more greedy corporate types looking for their next advertising campaign:

• Philip Morris: Killing to Make a Difference [CorpWatch]
• Behind the Smokescreen: Philip Morris Philanthropy Counter Arguments Overview [Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids]
• When is charity not charity? When it’s advertising? [reprint from Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Philip Morris Press Releases… odd, almost all of the ones visible on this page deal with trials that the company is engaged in or with all the great deeds they’re doing for the world…

-ram