CLOSE Tobacco giant Philip Morris says it has a New Year resolution: to try to 'give up' cigarettes. Kate King asks whether its latest UK ad campaign is more than just a publicity stunt. Video provided by Reuters Newslook 
 
 Philip Morris International is the maker of six of the world's top cigarette brands including Marlboro. (Photo: Toby Talbot, AP) 
 
 Philip Morris International has made a dramatic New Year’s resolution: “We’re trying to give up cigarettes.” 
 
 What? 
 
 The maker of such cigarette brands as Marlboro, L&M, Parliament and Chesterfield took out full-page ads in several newspapers in the United Kingdom that said its new ambition in 2018 is to build a smoke-free future and eventually stop selling cigarettes. 
 
 The manifesto, as described on the company’s web site, is to help people quit smoking traditional cigarettes and to one day replace them all with smoke-free alternatives like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. 
 
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 The company claims the alternatives are less harmful and that “we can achieve a significant public-health benefit only when a large number of these smokers switch from cigarettes to better products.” 
 
 The Philip Morris ad states: “No cigarette company has done anything like this before. You might wonder if we really mean it.” 
 
 The World Health Organization has asked that question as well. The United Nations health agency has refused to partner with The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World which is funded by Philip Morris International. 
 
 "The tobacco industry and its front groups have misled the public about the risks associated with other tobacco products," the World Health Organizations said in a September 2017 statement. 
 
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 "Such misleading conduct continues today with companies, including PMI, marketing tobacco products in ways that misleadingly suggest that some tobacco products are less harmful than others." 
 
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 Tobacco firm Philip Morris has placed an advertisement in some newspapers promoting its "ambition to stop selling cigarettes in the UK". 
 
 It is part of the company's drive to achieve a "smoke-free future". 
 
 The owner of the Marlboro brand has also written to Prime Minister Theresa May asking to be allowed to print information about quitting and switching on its cigarette packs. 
 
 However, anti-smoking campaigners described the campaign as a "PR stunt". 
 
 The text of the advertisement runs: "Our New Year's Resolution: we're trying to give up cigarettes". 
 
 It goes on to encourage smokers to go to a new website containing information about giving up smoking or moving on to alternatives to tobacco. 
 
 It also says Philip Morris will: 
 
 Offer to support Local Authority cessation services where smoking rates are highest 
 
 Seek government approval to insert, directly into its cigarette packs, information on quitting and on switching; 
 
 Expand the availability of new, alternative products in the UK. 
 
 The advert says the company has spent £2.5bn on develop smoke-free alternatives. 
 
 Asked why, if Philip Morris was so keen to go smoke-free, it did not simply stop making cigarettes and switch over to alternative production, a company spokesman told the BBC: "We are trying to go smoke free as fast as we can. If we just stopped selling cigarettes tomorrow, others would sell them in our place. 
 
 "In the UK, smokers are well aware of the dangers of smoking but what they want is more information about their options to quit smoking or switch." 
 
 'Smoke-free' 
 
 In the UK, Philip Morris markets several alternatives to cigarettes, including, including a heated tobacco product, Iqos. 
 
 It also owns the Nicocig, Vivid and Mesh e-cigarette brands. 
 
 "We believe we have an important role to play in helping the UK become smoke-free," said Peter Nixon, managing director of Philip Morris in the UK. 
 
 "The commitments announced today are practical steps that could accelerate that goal. We recognise that never starting to smoke - or quitting altogether - are always the best option. 
 
 "But for those who continue to smoke, there are more alternatives than ever available in the UK." 
 
 'Money to burn' 
 
 However, Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity Action on Smoking and Health said the "offer to support" local authorities was nothing more than a donation, which is not allowed under World Health Organization guidelines. 
 
 "As Philip Morris well knows the government isn't allowed to accept 'donations' from the tobacco industry," she said. 
 
 "However, it does show that the industry has money to burn. Rather than making donations, it should be forced to pay the government more of its enormous profits." 
 
 In July last year, the government set out a plan to make England, in effect, smoke-free in the next few decades. 
 
 The new Tobacco Control Plan aimed to cut smoking rates from 15.5% to 12% of the population by 2022, paving the way to a smoke-free generation. 
 
 In his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Nixon said: "We strongly support the government's clear ambition to create a smoke-free generation." 
 
 The Tobacco Control Plan "was a major step forward in recognising the vital role that e-cigarettes and other alternatives to cigarettes can play in achieving that goal", he added. ||||| The advert that appeared in a number of newspapers. Philip Morris International 
 
 LONDON — Global tobacco giant Philip Morris International's New Year's resolution is to give up cigarettes. 
 
 In an unusual move, the tobacco company, known for its Marlboro brand, placed full-page adverts in several UK newspapers on Tuesday claiming that the firm's "New Year's resolution" for 2018 is to "stop selling cigarettes in the UK." 
 
 "Philip Morris is known for cigarettes. Every year, many smokers give them up. Now it's our turn," reads the advert. 
 
 "Our ambition is to stop selling cigarettes in the UK. It won't be easy. But we are determined to turn our vision into reality. There are 7.6 million adults in the UK who smoke. The best action they can take is to quit smoking," it says. 
 
 The advert has appeared in several of today's newspapers, including The Sun. Philip Morris International / The Sun 
 
 Philip Morris said it aims to replace cigarettes with alternatives such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, "which are a better choice," and which it is rolling out in countries worldwide. The firm also announced the creation of a new website — www.smokefreefuture.co.uk— that contains information on quitting and on switching. 
 
 In addition to new products, Philip Morris said it plans to offer support to local stop-smoking services where smoking rates are highest and said it would seek UK government approval to include information about quitting smoking in cigarette packs. 
 
 "We believe we have an important role to play in helping the UK become smoke-free. The commitments announced today are practical steps that could accelerate that goal," said Peter Nixon, managing director of Philip Morris. 
 
 "We recognise that never starting to smoke — or quitting altogether — are always the best option. But for those who continue to smoke, there are more alternatives than ever available in the UK." 
 
 In September, the World Health Organisation advised governments to reject a plan by Philip Morris to set up a Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, saying the tobacco industry and "front groups" were "misleading" the public about the relative harm of alternative tobacco products. 
 
 To date, the firm has invested £2.5 billion into the research and development of smoke-free products to date, it said.
– Tobacco giant Philip Morris says it is giving up cigarettes—and its customers should, too. In full-page ads placed in British newspapers, the Marlboro maker says its New Year's resolution for 2018 is to work toward stopping selling cigarettes in Britain and to replace them with products like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, Business Insider reports. But the company isn't going cold turkey. When asked by the BBC why it's not going to simply stop making cigarettes, a company spokesman said: "We are trying to go smoke free as fast as we can. If we just stopped selling cigarettes tomorrow, others would sell them in our place." "No cigarette company has done anything like this before. You might wonder if we really mean it," said the company's ads, which promised Philip Morris will take anti-smoking steps including launching a campaign to give smokers information on quitting or switching to smoke-free alternatives. The company also promised to support stop-smoking services in areas with the highest smoking rates. Critics called the move a PR stunt, reports USA Today, which notes that the World Health Organization has accused the tobacco industry of misleading the public about the risks associated with other tobacco products. (In the US, a court has ordered Big Tobacco to run anti-smoking ads on TV.)