Agence France-Presse: WHO decries Big Tobacco bid to rebrand World No Tobacco Day
“The World Health Organization on Wednesday condemned efforts by the world’s biggest cigarette vendor to rebrand a day dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of tobacco use. … [A WHO official] voiced concern at attempts by Philip Morris International (PMI) to co-opt international efforts for its own campaign this week promoting new vaping and heated tobacco products as part of the solution to the world’s smoking epidemic. ‘We regard the PMI campaign as little more than a cynical attempt by the company to promote its deadly products,’ Vinayak Prasad, head of WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative, told AFP in an email. PMI, the maker of Marlboro, insisted Tuesday that World No Tobacco Day should be renamed World No Smoking Day, and it launched its own campaign dubbed It’s Time to Unsmoke…” (5/29).