Philip Morris takes aim at young people in India, and health officials are fuming
LIGHTING UP: A young man lights a cigarette along a road in New Delhi. Philip Morris says in internal documents it wants to win the "hearts and minds" of smokers aged 18 to 24 in India. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi--TOBACCO INSPECTOR: S. K. Arora, the chief tobacco control officer in Delhi, has spent the past three years pulling down cigarette advertisements at local kiosks. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
TOBACCO TOLL: A man lights a cigarette at a roadside stall in the old quarters of Delhi. Close to one million people a year in India die from tobacco use, according to government data. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi--1. A slide from a Philip Morris training manual shows the kinds of people the company aims to target for Marlboro sales in India. LAS = legal age smokers.
The tobacco giant is pushing Marlboros in colorful ads at kiosks and handing out free smokes at parties frequented by young adults - tactics that break India’s anti-smoking laws, government officials say. Internal documents uncovered by Reuters illuminate the strategy.