Kids should not smoke or use any tobacco products. As the largest tobacco manufacturer in the U.S., we believe we have an important role to play in helping reduce underage tobacco use.
Underage tobacco use is a complex issue for which there is no one simple solution. Experts point to a variety of societal, environmental and personal factors that should be considered to help prevent risky behaviors, and recommend a multi-faceted approach. That’s why we support a Positive Youth Development approach to preventing underage tobacco use, emphasizing positive relationships and activities, and reducing risk factors. This approach can help kids make healthy decisions, like not using tobacco.
Over the years, we have funded a variety of research-based programs that:
- help prevent underage access to tobacco products;
- provide parents with tools to help them raise kids who don’t smoke; and
- support youth-serving organizations to help keep kids from using tobacco.
Learn more about our history of supporting efforts to reduce underage tobacco use In the late 1990s, Philip Morris USA entered into
agreements with the states that have dramatically changed the way tobacco products are marketed and sold. In addition, we supported legislation, enacted in June 2009, to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products, including new authority to prevent underage tobacco use.
Today, we continue to support programs and legislative efforts to help
reduce underage access to tobacco products,
organizations that provide kids with the support they need to make healthy decisions, and
tools for parents to help them raise kids who don’t smoke or use any tobacco products.
We also follow a number of business practices designed to limit underage access and exposure to our tobacco product brands and marketing materials. For example, we:
- limit direct mail and access to branded websites to adult tobacco consumers who are 21 or older and similarly limit one-to-one marketing activities to those 21 years of age or older;
- engage with movie studios and others in the entertainment industry and encourage them to eliminate smoking scenes in movies directed to kids; and
- require participating retailers to merchandise and sell all cigarettes only in clerk-assisted transactions and place our retail point of sale materials in limited locations only.
Learn more about our responsible marketing efforts
