If you don’t smoke, don’t start if you smoke, quit if you don’t quit, change. Here are three pieces of advice from Philip Morris International (“PMI”) which presented its vision about smoke free future and transformation to become a company that has a net-positive impact on society during Technovation 2023 which was held in a fascinating building – CUBE, that rests on the shores of the Lake Neuchâtel.
The first thing that comes to mind when one hears “Philip Morris” is cigarettes. In fact, today we discovered Philip Morris is much more than a cigarette company. The company invests in science, research and technology in order to improve product offerings that benefit both the society and the business.
Bertrand Bonvin, President ‘’Heat not burn’, in the interview for Armenian First News and Analysis online portal and TV emphasized: “We have tried to reduce the toxicity of cigarettes for many years, so in the 90’s we started our projects and activities and already in the early 2000s we were in the market with some product, but the core of the acceleration was the development of a smoke-free heated tobacco products
In these years we had to manage the technology and the ritual of the smoker as well. In November 2014 we launched in Japan and in Italy. In those almost 10 years, if you look for example in Japan, almost 3.1 million people currently use better alternatives than cigarettes.
Our ambition was really to change the trajectory because if you know that your product is causing disease, then the company should invest a lot and find a solution. We have billions of smokers in the world, thus finding a solution to reducing the toxicity and having better alternative is the right thing to do. So, we have been making these alternatives since 2014, today they are available for more and more consumers. We are changing the world, smoke- free future is not only for the company, but for the whole world. The progress we have made stimulates other companies to innovate as well and we have the ambition to progress and deliver this benefit to the smoker…
When we talk about what we have achieved the first thing I want to mention is the investment for developing the technology, validation of science. Today almost 25,8 million people switched to better alternatives, and we are already able to see how they benefit from this category from a health standpoint’’.
To the point of view that PMI prides itself on the use of scientific evidence in its research work and its transition to a smoke-free future, but considerable part of the general public seems to now doubt science, Mr. Bonvin said that the biggest difficulty is the lack of the talk with the consumer. ‘’If I look at Armenian market, we have some limitations, so you are not able to communicate freely to consumers. For example, we have consumers who use a product that is not good, we don’t have a chance to tell them that there is a product which is better. So, I think the ability to explain the fact to the consumer is really important, because otherwise the consumers get confused and may not make the right choice’’.
The President of e-vapor Ashok Rammohan in turn emphasized the role of e-vapes in PMI portfolio to achieve smoke free future. “If we look 10 years back, the situation is improving now, 20+ percent of consumers were able to switch completely. So, we believe that PMI, having e-vapes in the portfolio for future development, will help us to accelerate the development o technology and offer consumers alternatives so that they’ll be able to fully understand that this product is scientifically substantiated’’.
It is noteworthy that an e-vape has 99% less toxic substances compared to cigarette smoke “It is obvious that if you are a smoker, you want to move to a product that has the lowest level of toxic compounds. But 99% less toxic doesn’t mean 99% less risk. So, we have to understand that the product is not risk free, because it contains nicotine and it is addictive․ But if I don’t fully switch to vaping, I don’t realize the full benefits of the product… Quitting is the best thing that smoker could do, there is no question about it and here vaping has a rule to play, but it’ll not be an easy jump.”
Mr. Rammohan also highlighted the need of communication with consumers. “Without communicating and knowing the risks and benefits of the product, people would make a wrong choice. If we have a freedom to talk and could share the information, consumers can make better choices. Many of the European markets’ vaping regulations are much freer compared to other tobacco products, which help to communicate with the consumers, but the problem is the lack of enforcement which is very important. If there is communication freedom it’s good, but there should be an enforcing agency that monitors and cracks down the platforms that are not allowed to use.”
