Here are some specific examples of how PMI is aggressively targeting young people around the world, grouped by category (though some examples also fall under other categories of promotion):

See photo album of select examples

Concert Sponsorship

• Argentina: Marlboro Music: Marlboro has organized a concert for May 30, 2009
• Indonesia: Alicia Keys' Concert: Philip Morris International was to sponsor Alicia Keys' July 31, 2008 concert in Jakarta, Indonesia. Billboards promoted the event as “A Mild Live Production.” A Mild is a cigarette brand produced by Philip Morris International. Alicia Keys is heavily involved in the campaign “Keep a Child Alive” that addresses the HIV/AIDS epidemic in poor countries. Alicia Keys, once she found out, rejected the Philip Morris sponsorship. For more information, see: Health Advocates Protest Tobacco Sponsorship of Alicia Keys Concert in Indonesia, Alicia Keys Sets Example for Entertainment Industry by Withdrawing Tobacco Sponsorship of Indonesia Concert
• Indonesia: A-Volution Beat Fest 2008: Bengkel Night Park, Jakarta (November 29, 2008)
• Indonesia: Marlboro Rock in Orchestra Concert Series: A 15 city concert series in Indonesia that features groups such as Slank that are popular with young people. Promotional materials for the concerts include cigarette branding and advertising. See a photo from one of the concerts
• A Mild LIVE WANTED 2009: Music talent search that allows local bands to break into the Indonesia music scene. The events are ongoing. This year's schedule:
  April 11th ---> Denpasar, Bali. (TVRI tv station's yard)
  April 12th ---> Medan, North Sumatera. (Griya Dome Medan)
  April 18th ---> Pekanbaru, Riau. (Ratu Mayang Hotel Ballroom)
  April 19th ---> Palembang, South Sumatera. (Aryaduta Convention Center)
  April 25th ---> Jakarta. (Hall A Basket Senayan)
  April 26th ---> Bandung, West Java. (Hall Citra Arena)
  May 2nd ---> Yogyakarta. (STD Krisdosono)
  May 3rd ---> Surabaya. (GOR Kertajaya)
  The Workshop will be held in Jakarta 27 - 29 May, and Grand Final will be on May 30 in Bandung, West Java.
  
• Mexico: Marlboro MXBeat: A four concert series featured the groups N*E*R*D, Vampire Weekend, Girl Talk, and Nortec. Promotional materials included magazine advertisements, billboards, websites, and blogs. Mexican law prohibits sponsorship that promotes tobacco. For more information, see: Marlboro MXBeat Concert Series Defies Mexico’s National Tobacco Control Law
• Philippines: Erasureheads reunion concert: Many internet advertisements directed those looking for tickets to the concert to a website owned by Philip Morris. Free tickets to the event were given out to anyone signing up on the Marlboro Red List website. Philip Morris defended this sponsorship by saying that the concert was invitation only, and that only those over 18 would be allowed in. However, Philip Morris eventually gave in to the criticism and withdrew their sponsorship of the event.

Movie Screenings

• Pakistan: Mobile Cinema Hall: This marketing campaign by Lakson Tobacco Company (98% owned by PMI) for its Diplomat cigarette brand took place in Karachi and involved a long branded truck with a mini cinema hall inside. The entry ticket for the cinema hall was a pack of cigarettes. The main target of this campaign was youth from low socio economic classes.

Points for Prizes

• Argentina: The Auction: PMI has created a website where smokers can exchange points they get in their cigarrette boxes, for products such as CD music, mobile phones, etc, and enter to win prizes like a motorcycle with a side car or a vintage VW van. There is no mention of PMI in the site, but there is in the kiosk where they sell the cigarrettes.

Sport Sponsorship

• Worldwide/Australia: Australian motorcycle champ Casey Stoner, a former Young Australian of the Year Award recipient, is sponsored by Marlboro. Tobacco sponsorship is not allowed in Australia, but photos of him outside of Australia still sneak through.
• Worldwide: The company may have removed brand names and logos from race cars its sponsors, but that doesn't stop it from using images of the Marlboro-red race cars in its cigarette promotions. Here is an example from Japan, a limited edition race car-themed cigarette pack.
• Indonesia: A Mild sponsors basketball

Social Networking Sites

• Facebook groups: A-Volution.com, Marlboro Lights, Marlboro Fresh

Package Design

• Indonesia: Lipstick-shaped packs: A Volution is a slim cigarette brand that is targeted at women. The A Volution pack looks like a tube of lipstick.
  
• Russia: Perfume box-shaped packs: Virginia Slims Uno is sold in packaging that resembles a box of perfume. The pack comes in black or white allowing consumers to purchase based on their “mood”.
• Worldwide: Cell phone-size packs: PMI is growing market share in several markets by introducing Marlboro Filter Plus –also called Marlboro Flavor Plus. Packaged to resemble a mobile phone, it is marketed as having a “unique, multi-chamber filter,” allegedly delivering lower tar levels and a smooth taste. PMI’s own consumer research has shown that “between 40% and 60% of Marlboro Filter Plus smokers are Young Adult Smokers." Markets include: four Eastern European countries (Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia and Ukraine), Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Kuwait.
• Lebanon: Misleading descriptor: Merit Lights. Read related: Federal Judge Orders Tobacco Companies to Stop Deceiving Foreign Consumers As Well as Those in U.S.
  
• Ukraine: Color-coding a lie: Following the ban on misleading terms, PMI launched new products and revamped existing ones by switching to color codes to denote lower tar contents; Chesterfield Classic Blue and Bronze replaced “Lights” and “Ultra Lights”; L&M Silver Label replaced L&M Superlights; Marlboro replaced descriptors with tar content (10mg for regular, 6mg for lights, and 4mg for ultra lights); Parliament Aqua Blue (lights), Night Blue (regular), and Silver Blue (extra lights)
  

Product Design

• Costa Rica: New Flavors: Marlboro Mint Series: Icy Mint & Fresh Mint
• Turkey: Shape & Nicotine Content: Marlboro Intense is a “mini” cigarette is engineered to deliver the same amount of nicotine as a regular length Marlboro, but it is substantially shorter for a quicker smoke.The pack is small-sized so that it fits easily into shirt pockets. It is a way for company to address increases in smoke-free environments which cause people to shorten their smoke breaks.
  

Miscellaneous

• Indonesia: Billboards: While PMI is engaging in many new and innovative promotional strategies, it still engages in billboard advertising, such as this Marlboro ad.
• Philippines: Low prices/individual cigarette sales: These are posters found at thousands of stores in the Philippines. For reference, USD 1 = 48 pesos.
• Philippines: Smoking Lounge: Smoking lounge created by Marlboro as part of a local airport in a popular beach destination (Boracay), to which many young people go.
• Philippines: Awards to Journalists: Philip Morris is a sponsor of the Bright Leaf Awards – awards given to journalists and photographers for agricultural journalism. There are award categories for both tobacco articles and photographs. While not an example of direct tobacco promotions to youth, such activities help create an media and political environment in which the company's promotional activities are not questioned.

Thanks to the following organizations and people for their contribution of examples and information: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Mary Assunta, Ulysses Dorotheo, Dina Kania, Javaid Khan, George Saades, Stafford Sanders, Veronica Sandler, Nicole Sutton, and Domilyn Villarreiz.

More information:

• Business Week (May 4 cover story): Philip Morris' Global Race: Freed from Altria, Philip Morris International CEO Louis Camilleri is pushing hard to boost global sales before U.S.-style tobacco restrictions spread
• Philip Morris International's 2008 Annual Report

For more information, contact: