Sign the Petition:

Tell governments around the world to ban the “Be Marlboro” ad campaign and stop Philip Morris International from marketing its deadly products to kids.

Why Stop Marlboro?

How does Philip Morris International stay in business despite global restrictions on advertising and marketing? It targets low and middle-income countries unable to fight back.

PMI’s latest campaign, search “Be Marlboro, search ” has spread to more than 60 countries. And worse, PMI is using youth-oriented messages and images that appeal to a new generation of smokers.

Take action now to #StopMarlboro. Read our report and sign the petition calling on governments around the world to ban the “Be Marlboro” marketing campaign and others like it.

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250 Million

Number of children and young people alive today who will die from tobacco-related diseases
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$7 Billion

Amount Philip Morris International spent on marketing and related expenses in 2014
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>60

Number of countries where “Be Marlboro” marketing can be found

How to Market to Teens

How do you market to teens? Watch this video to find out how Marlboro’s ads do it in over 60 countries.

Teens React to “Be Marlboro”

Hear what teens around the world are saying about “Be Marlboro.”

The Evidence: Ads Marlboro Claims Don’t Target Teens

U.S.-based Philip Morris International has boosted global sales for its best-selling Marlboro cigarettes with a marketing campaign filled with images of sex, partying and risky behavior. They claim their advertising does not target teens. You be the judge.

How to Market to Teens: Sell Sex

How to Market to Teens: Throw a Party

How to Market to Teens: Make it Risky

“Be Marlboro” Videos from Around the World

Countries with “Be Marlboro” Trademarks or Advertising

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Advocates Fight Back

Scroll through the slideshow to see how activists around the world are taking action to stop Marlboro.

Report Slams Marlboro

In 2014, public health organizations release a report entitled “You’re the Target” exposing how Philip Morris International’s “Be Marlboro” marketing campaign uses themes and images that appeal to youth across the globe.

READ THE REPORT

German Authorities Ban Marlboro Ads

After Philip Morris International launches “Be Marlboro” in 2011, German authorities ban the controversial advertising campaign claiming it is too focused on getting young people to start smoking.
READ NEWS ARTICLE

Media Condemns Marlboro

“The seemingly “cool” and iconic cowboy and cigarette-loving man who died due to lung disease has been replaced with young people engaged in adventure sports in a new advertisement enticing the youth to engage in tobacco use.” – Manilla Bulletin
READ ARTICLE

Philippines Fights Back

Advocates in the Philippines launch the “Don’t Be Marlboro” selfie campaign. Hundreds of people upload photos using the tagline “I won’t let tobacco target me. I say NO to tobacco.”

READ MORE

Public Health Officials Denounce Marlboro

Advocates present a letter to Philip Morris International’s Chairman signed by more than 100 government officials from more than 25 countries calling on PMI to end “Be Marlboro.”
READ LETTER

BBC Calls Out Marlboro

BBC documentary exposes Philip Morris International’s Marlboro marketing campaign. BBC journalist, Peter Taylor, says Be Marlboro is “aimed unashamedly at young people.”
WATCH VIDEO

Brazil Fines PMI

PROCON, a public consumer protection agency fines Philip Morris International around US$ 500,000 and asks PMI to withdraw the “Be Marlboro” campaign because it takes advantage of young people’s inexperience.

READ MORE

Marlboro Hit with Complaint in Peru

Advocates file a complaint with a consumer protection agency alleging that “Be Marlboro” violates Peruvian regulations forbidding the use of messages and images aimed at minors.

Regulators Rule Against Marlboro

CONARP, the self-regulation body on commercial advertisement in Argentina, recommends that the “Be Marlboro” campaign not be run in the future. CONARP finds that the campaign’s message “to be something/someone” is connected to the identity search essential for young people and could therefore be appealing to them.

WHO Highlights Be Marlboro

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, calls out Marlboro declaring “The ad agency responsible for the don’t-be-a-maybe campaign has proudly recorded its strategy, including reinforcement of the brand’s values, namely ‘be true, bold, and forever forward.’ While I am not sure the tobacco industry has many values, I do believe these words make good objectives for tobacco control.”

READ SPEECH

In the News

consumeristEarlier this year, John Oliver thrust Philip Morris International — the New York-based cigarette giant that markets Marlboro and other brands in hundreds of countries outside the U.S. — into the spotlight for its questionable legal efforts to delay and block tobacco regulation around the globe. And this morning, the company used copyright claims to have videos posted by critics of Marlboro removed from the Internet.

Consumerist
May 1, 2015

aljazeera“The ‘Be Marlboro’ ads threaten the health of millions of youths,” Matthew Myers, the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “Young, hip models, partying, thrill-seeking — it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at these ads and see that their primary impact will be on young people.”

Al Jazeera
March 11, 2014

insiderSmoking is deadly, but Philip Morris International and its brand, Marlboro, still want to push tobacco products onto trendy and attractive teenagers around the world. The company does so by throwing “Be Marlboro” parties in over 60 countries to promote the brand using sex, fun, and risk taking.

Business Insider
May 15, 2015

msnbcOver the past three years, U.S.-based Phillip Morris International (PMI) has mounted a 50-country campaign to update Marlboro’s image. The iconic Marlboro Man, long dead from lung cancer, has returned in the guise of a romantic, rebellious, thrill-seeking hipster who is everybody’s idol and nobody’s fool. This can be you, the ads assure self-doubting teens, if you take this life-changing pledge: “NEVER SAY MAYBE. BE MARLBORO.”

MSNBC
May 14, 2014

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© 2015 Stop Marlboro
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