Philip Morris says it’s New Years resolution is to give up cigarettes

How can anyone take an industry with a proven track record of lies, bribery, international smuggling, and homicidal suppression of cancer studies seriously?

USA Today reports on Big Tobacco’s adverts in UK national newspapers declaring that they want to eradicate smoking (and replace it with other ways of maintaining addiction).

“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.”

How can anyone take an industry with a proven track record of lies, bribery, international smuggling, and homicidal suppression of cancer studies seriously?

You can’t. It’s just a sick publicity stunt and their offer to help fund smoking cessation services in the UK is disingenuous – it would be classed as bribery/corruption and not allowed under UK law. And they know it.