Caught in the Act: Philip Morris Rolls Out Global Marlboro Ad Campaign While Claiming Cigarettes Belong in Museums

Washington, D.C. - New reporting from The Guardian today exposes a massive global ad campaign for Marlboro cigarettes launching in at least 20 countries around the world and squarely targeted at young people. The ad campaign makes the hypocrisy of Philip Morris International impossible to ignore: While the cigarette maker has repeatedly claimed that “cigarettes belong in museums” it is simultaneously putting all its might into a new marketing campaign for the company’s bestselling Marlboro cigarettes.

From Indonesia to Germany, the “I am Marlboro” campaign features ads on TV, billboards and in shops. The campaign centers on themes of identity, belonging and self-expression. It tells young people things like “I know who I am…I am Marlboro” and “Make your own legacy. I am Marlboro.”

As the Guardian notes, the “I am Marlboro” messaging echoes elements of Philip Morris’s infamous “Be Marlboro” ad campaign which faced regulatory action in multiple countries over concerns it appealed to teens.

This egregious ad campaign makes crystal clear that Philip Morris remains, first and foremost, a cigarette company doing everything it can to bolster cigarette sales – often in countries already facing a devastating burden from smoking-related disease.

In Indonesia, where massive “I am Marlboro” billboards are scattered throughout cities and the ads air on television, nearly two-thirds of men smoke cigarettes. This is no accident. It is because tobacco companies like Philip Morris have aggressively advertised cigarettes in Indonesia and around the world for decades and have lobbied for weaker tobacco control protections that allow them to do so.

The emergence of this ad campaign should serve as a warning to governments, policymakers and the public that tobacco companies will say whatever it takes to gain favor, while continuing to market and sell the world’s deadliest consumer product.