In Hamburg (Germany) in 2018, an employee of Philip Morris International presents an alternative to cigarettes, Iqos, a heating tobacco device. Axel Heimken/DPA/AP
DECRYPTION – If PMI is the tobacco company that has pushed its transformation strategy the furthest, most of its competitors have followed suit. Because the observation is clear: tobacco consumption continues to decline.
“Quit smoking or you’ll never date my daughter!”. This is the warning issued by Jacek Olczak, CEO of Philip Morris, the parent company of Marlboro, to the future boyfriend of her eldest. The anecdote, recently confided by the manager to the FinancialTimes, says a lot about the state of mind that now reigns at the world leader in tobacco and the transformation that has taken place in recent years. At the end of 2016, Philip Morris made a wish for a “smoke-free world”. “One day we will have to remind people that our company sold cigarettes in the past”says Jacek Olczak, himself a former smoker.
If PMI is the tobacco company that has pushed its transformation strategy the furthest, most of its competitors have followed suit. Because the observation is clear: tobacco consumption continues to decline. In 2020, smokers made up 17% of the world’s population, up from nearly 27% in 2000, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The fall should continue, with 15.4…
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