The Business of Selling Nicotine

In a post called Newsflash, the blog Reason Engaged sums up the news that cigarette companies have surreptitiously spent the past five years increasing the amount of addictive nicotine  they put in their in their products-- particularly the brands targeted to younger smokers.

Cigarette companies aren't trying as hard as they can to put themselves out of business. In other news, water has been found to be wet and it's hard to see in the dark. The two points that the article makes are not surprising. First, if you win a lawsuit against a company and force them to advertise against themselves, expect them to do exactly what they have to do and nothing more. Second, if you're going to come up with a standard and a test for that standard, expect the manufacturers to design their products to pass your test, not to altruistically "improve" their product.

So far, the bloggers have been relatively quiet on this one.

Could it be because we have very mixed feelings about the news? On the one hand, it's appalling. Shocking. Duplicitious. Feels illegal. Definitely unethical.   

On the other hand,it embodies a key component of what we admire in business: ingenuity. Finding A Way is  American Business Culture 101. Increasing the nicotine is nothing,if not a brilliant business strategy of finding the way to keep a customer base .

From a business ethics standpoint it begs the question-- why are we even discussing the safety levels of a product we know is inherently unsafe? As Blogger Dear Al writes,

Cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, car accidents, suicide, AIDS, homicide, and illegal drugs combined! Each year, about 438,000 people die in the US from tobacco use. Smoking is associated with reduced fertility and a higher risk of miscarriage, early delivery (prematurity), stillbirth, infant death, and is a cause of low birth weight in infants. It has also been linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Meanwhile, five cigarette companies were in court yesterday asking permission to continue labeling cigarettes "low tar" in their overseas market...even though the courts have ruled the labels are misleading.

"Banning the use of the low-tar descriptors in foreign countries would be an unwarranted intrusion upon the right of these countries to regulate cigarette sales within their own borders," attorneys wrote. Prohibiting such marketing would put U.S. cigarette companies at an unfair disadvantage in the international market, attorneys said. Overseas markets represent a growth area for cigarette sales, tobacco executives have said."

They made their arguments to the same judge who two weeks ago ruled "that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws and deceived the public for years about the health hazards of smoking."

If secretly upping the nicotine levels and wantonly requesting to lie to the international market isn't enough, then there's the industry's strategy to market to kids --even though they are legally prohibited from marketing to kids. Several years ago one of PhillipMorris' competitors, the Reynolds Company (aka RJR) began marketing candy-flavored cigarettes. They have been incredibily successful. . In an article written for the The Washington Post this summer,Joseph A. Califano Jr. and Louis W. Sullivan warned that, "Joe Camel, is up to its old tricks, targeting our children again."

Reynolds's claim that it flavors cigarettes to give adults an alternative to traditional smokes is belied by the findings of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. That research institute found that, compared with adult smokers over 25, more than three times as many teens who smoke light up flavored cigarettes.

The candy-flavored cigarettes(Twista Lime,Mochamint,Mandarin Mint) are such a hit that they are now introducing alcohol flavored cigarettes

Reynolds has marketed them with names based on gambling lingo as well: ScrewDriver Slots, BlackJack Gin, Snake Eyes Scotch and Back Alley Blend (a bourbon-flavored cigarette).

Califono and Sullivan say its child abuse. If you visit the Phillip Morris Website, you'll see a company with a strong anti-smoking message. At the top of the website is their values statement:

"Our goal is to be the most responsible, effective and respected developer, manufacturer and marketer of consumer products, especially products intended for adults."

Meanwhile, the shares for the holding company of Phillip Morris( Altria Group) are selling at 83.53 -- close to the 52 week high of 85.

This is cross-posted at Blogher.