Philip Morris on the truth about the economics of smoking bans

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Philip Morris on the truth about the economics of smoking bans

This Philip Morris (PM) document exposes the company's disingenuousness in continuing to predict that economic devastation will result from the passage of smoking bans. The following quote is by David Laufer, Philip Morris' director of Marketing and Sales, in 1994:

...the economic arguments often used by the industry to scare off smoking ban activity were no longer working, if indeed they ever did. These arguments simply had no credibility with the public, which isn't surprising when you consider our dire predictions in the past rarely came true ... The fact was that Stanton Glantz's totally bogus pronouncements on ETS had more credibility with the media and the public than our economic impact arguments...

The document also discusses strategies to "scatter the antis resources" and enact preemption as a way to head off smoking bans at the local level and in all 50 states.

Title: CAC Presentation Number 4 Tina Walls - Introduction
Date: 19940708 (July 8, 1994)
Type: Press release
Bates No.: 2041183751/3790
Pages 40
URL: http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vnf77e00