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August 31, 2007 - Camel SNUS ad appeared in the What's Up Section of the Raleigh News & Observer. Raleigh is one of the new market test sites. What do you think?? Does this ad target hard-nosed, firmly and long established, deep-rooted cigarette smokers that refuse to consider trying to quit smoking tobacco or a much younger crowd of young adults and any kids they can entice along the way - witness the tagline for Camel SNUS: "Pleasure for wherever." See related Newsbriefs:August 24, 2007 August 17, 2007, August 14, 2007, August 10, 2007, August 3, 2007, July 27, 2007, July 23, 2007, July 13, 2007, July 12, 2007 and July 2, 2007. Click on image to enlarge..
August 30, 2007 - Convenience Store excitement - With the release of Marlboro SNUS this month and Marlboro MST in October - the Marlboro franchise remains active on the cigarette front as well with the September, 2007 introduction of Marlboro Virginia Blend, a single leaf blend (Click on images to enlarge.), and Marlboro Smooth 100s Box - menthols following the national launch of Marlboro Smooth - menthols last March, 2007. The RJ Reynolds Tobacco salesperson claims Camel SNUS is selling like hotcakes - they've taken out the Camel No. 9 video display and replaced it with a Camel SNUS video display. Swisher International has introduced a very inexpensive little cigar in 5-varieties called Santa Fe. Cost on these cigars is 49 cents for a 20-pack and should retail for around 75 cents a pack. It must be made of scraps of tobacco stems that were going to be discarded. (TobaccoWatch.org)
August 30, 2007 - The Altria Group plans to spin off Philip Morris International, the overseas maker of Marlboros and other cigarette brands, in a move intended to give it more freedom to pursue sales growth in emerging markets. The plans, announced yesterday, would leave Altria with its much smaller domestic tobacco business, which still is the biggest in the United States. The spinoff would clear the international tobacco business from the legal and regulatory constraints facing its domestic counterpart, Philip Morris USA. The company’s board announced it would confirm its decision and give the exact timing of the spinoff at its board meeting on Jan. 30. Sales at Philip Morris International, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, are more than double those at the United States unit, with 2006 revenue of $48.26 billion, compared with Philip Morris USA’s $18.47 billion. Last year, Philip Morris International sold 831 billion cigarettes, making it the world’s largest nongovernment tobacco company by volume. It holds 15.4 percent of the global market.
August 29, 2007 - An article written by Dr. Sanjit Bagchi in the September issue of Health Care News summarizes a study that appeared in the June 16, 2007 issue of The Lancet ("Assessment of Swedish snus for tobacco harm reduction: an epidemiological modelling study," by Carol E. Gartner et al.). Gartner and colleagues found snus could produce a net benefit to health at the population level if it is adopted in sufficient numbers by inveterate smokers. It was concluded that relaxing current restrictions on the sale of snus is more likely to produce a net benefit than harm, with the size of the benefit dependent on how many inveterate smokers switch to snus. Please note the subjects were hard-nosed, firmly and long established, deep-rooted cigarette smokers that refuse to consider trying to quit smoking tobacco. For this population SNUS may help but it is impossible to limit distribution to this relatively small number of smokers. Over 70% of smokers have expressed the desire to quit using tobacco products. But tobacco companies have an entirely different goal in mind - targeting a much younger crowd of young adults and any kids they can entice along the way - witness the tagline for Camel SNUS: "Pleasure for wherever." We’re afraid this generation of youngsters will not be able to reach their full potential – their crutch will always be nicotine addiction. Kids are well aware of what is happening.. they’ve been told over and over again how bad tobacco smoking can be - it kills. Now – you have public health officials telling people how safe this alternative is and you can still get the same amounts of nicotine (perhaps even more) and much lesser chance of developing a disease. Please see http://snus.biz for many more examples. (TobaccoWatch.org)
August 29, 2007 -
Britain to put picture warnings on ALL tobacco products.. All packets of cigarettes and other tobacco products sold in Britain will have to feature graphic photographs showing the effects of smoking from next year, government ministers said Wednesday (8/28/07) Belgium was the first European Union member state to publish warning photos on cigarette packets, but Britain is going a step further by applying the rule to all tobacco products. The decision brings Britain into line with nations such as Canada, India, Australia and Singapore. The photos which will be used are being selected by members of the public, who voted for the 15 most disturbing from 42 which featured on a website. Ministers will announce later Wednesday which ones were the winners, but the options include pictures of cancerous lungs and diseased gums. A 2002 study from the Canadian Cancer Society showed that 58 percent of smokers said that the pictures made them think more about the effects of smoking. In October 2007, the minimum age for buying tobacco in Britain will rise from 16 to 18, bringing it in line with alcohol. Smoking in enclosed public places is now banned across the country. (Yahoo News)
