Places Program

Philip Morris' Places Program was a renewed effort circa 1997 to push PM's Accommodation Program further nationally. The idea was to convince operators or managers of public places like airports, shopping malls, bowling alleys and casinos to install new ventilation systems that PM believed would be better at accommodating smoking. The "Places" program created state captains who were in charge of local network teams who would in turn contact operators of public venues and, through presentations and lobbying, convince them create or preserve pleasant smoking places. The program was implemented as a countermeasure to try and stop the continuing decline in social acceptability of smoking.

PM selected which venues to push the Places program based on their "bellweather" status, that is, how influential they were in reinforcing smoking's social acceptability. Goals of the "Places" program included convincing business owners that there is an economic advantage in allowing smoking, creating incentives for business owners to install new ventilation systems, and "proactively selling ventilation solutions" to business owners. [1]