We only market our tobacco products to adult smokers in order to maintain brand loyalty and to encourage smokers of competitor brands to switch to our products. We do not market tobacco products to minors, nor do we encourage anyone to take up or discourage anyone to quit smoking. We support regulation on the responsible marketing of tobacco products, providing it is evidence-based, practical, effective, and proportionate – and that it allows us to communicate with adults who use our products.
Responsible marketing
Our approach
We take responsible marketing very seriously, particularly when it comes to preventing youth smoking. We only market our tobacco products to adult smokers, never to minors.
This focus is reflected in our Global Tobacco Marketing Principles, a guiding document developed in 2016.
For tobacco retailers, we continue to support our retail partners by training staff and providing campaign materials to reinforce the message that underage sales are not allowed. During 2017, our targeted responsible tobacco-retailing programs (e.g. No ID, no Sale) in the U.K., Denmark, the Netherlands, and Ireland, showed strong progress in terms of tackling youth smoking, and retailers welcomed these programs as effective tools.