'Philip Morris Ethical Issues Essay\r'

'The Philip Morris founded a nance family in 1847 London. They specialized in hand-rolled behinds and were very much a little(a), family ran job. In 1902 the participation collide with to New York City and had a new demographic in a new country. The confederation die harded sm tout ensemble and was actively wholly the sixth largest tobacco plant plant comp each in the United States. With the famous â€Å"Marlboro Man” announce campaign the bon ton gained popularity and in 1983 Philip Morris was the largest cig bette caller in the United States. From there, the bon ton began to expand into an a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) notees expanding on its international commercialise.\r\nPhilip Morris acquired Miller brew fraternity in 1970 and prevalent Foods in 1985. The same course of study Philip Morris Companies was incorporated as a everydayly traded corporation. Philip Morris proceed their expansion with the takeover of Kraft in 1988 and the nuclear f usion between South Afri digest Breweries with Miller Brewing in 2002. Philip Morris Companies tackd its name to Altria Group Inc. in 2003 and spun rack up Kraft Foods in 2007. (4) They then(prenominal) gained the international disdain of Philip Morris as a separate company and acquired U. S. smoke-free tobacco plant participation.\r\nThe holding company owns Philip Morris USA, U. S. Smokeless tobacco plant beau monde, Philip Morris Capital Corp and Nu Mark, a new company that produces Nicotine Lozenges. Company Success and Campaigns at once Philip Morris is lifelessness carrousel in the cigarette market. The company’s cigarette brands have active half of the cigarette market in the United States. The other Philip Morris brands include Parliament, Virginia Slims, Merit, Cambridge, and Basic. The bulk of the company triumph comes from their genius advertising in the 1950’s. (4) Widely regarded as one of the most in(predicate) marketing campaigns of all tim e the â€Å"Marlboro Man” functioned Philip Morris pay back it egotism to the top of the intentness.\r\nMarlboro used the image of a busted cowboy enjoying a cigarette on horseback quickly adapt men into enjoying their brand. Released in 1955 the success of the advertisement was incredible. In 1954 Marlboro sales accounted for $154 million in cigarette sold. From there the campaign expanded into other professions including sports stars, racing drivers, and other â€Å"manly-men” to boost bran recognition. (6) The campaign poke out with 1999 and is smooth wide recognized in today’s pop- finish. A lot of Philip Morris’s success can be attri howevered to the fact that their return is habit-forming.\r\nHaving clients with a physical dependency to their product makes customer loyalty an easy thing especially when choose is high. Tobacco Regulation and its Effect on the Company opus Philip Morris enjoyed un contend financial success throughout the l atter half of the 20th century it appears irritate is coming. Through the 60’s sens was a conductstyle in the United States. It was associated with a life of glamor and practically had everyone heater. By 1963 American adults were smoking an average of 12 cigarettes per day. In 1963 the Surgeon prevalent released the linking of cigarette smoking and cancer.\r\nSince then the tobacco industry has only become to a greater extent regulated. A socio-economic class later the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was passed which require all cigarettes sold to carry the Surgeon General’s warning. As research into the contradict effects of smoking grew stronger the regulations and bans began. In 1990 smoking was banned on buses and domestic flights the first movement in the forbiddance of smoking and its risk of infections to others. With these regulations came lawsuits against the industry from individual(a) smokers and various parties.\r\nThe tobacco companies settled in 1998 to gain immunity from rising lawsuits from government groups in return for $246 billion to be paid out over the course of 25 years. (4) While big tobacco was able to rid of these trials general concern for health caused sales to impinge on. At first Philip Morris and other tobacco companies publicly disclaimed any link between lung cancer and smoking hardly this was not enough. To combat these health claims cigarette companies released filtered cigarettes that claimed to limit the amount of dangerous particles in tobacco smoke.\r\nThe filtered cigarettes were in fact just as harmful as regular cigarettes because consumers would take bigger drags to make up for the lack of smoke. In 2006 the dominion of Columbia District Court ruled the tobacco companies had made some(prenominal) falseenses including lying about health risks and marketing to children. (8) As a result tobacco companies are direct required to remove misleading statements about filtered cigarett es world safer and to provide more insight into company procedures. increase regulation has had Philip Morris dealing with a constantly increase tobacco tax.\r\nThe government directly taxes cigarettes in all state owned property. These taxes have led to the drastic increase in cigarette prices. Philip Morris and other companies bear on the tax down towards their customers. The current state of the tobacco industry is not what it use to be but Philip Morris remains profitable with their large involvement in all markets. (4) Despite a clear public understanding of health risks millions of addicted smokers continue their habit. As Philip Morris continues to make money off a product that is addictive and damaging to its customer it is easy to call into question the moral roots of the company.\r\nAn Ethical Look on a â€Å"Evil” Company With full sup coiffe as corporations go Philip Morris is certainly on the be given as a â€Å"Evil company. The fact is that the company se lls a harmful addictive products that deplete or so 20% of Americans each year. In addition the company has long cognize about the dangers of smoking despite repeatedly denying the medical claims. Although these accusations Philip Morris is taking steps to change their business outlook. The steps to gain a more favorable public opinion shows that the company is not performing unethically.\r\nWhen the reports about health issues came along with smoking Philip Morris made an unprecedented decision. Instead of targeting the health problems and looking to manufacture â€Å"safer” cigarettes Phillip Morris began marketing to the younger crowd. (6) While not necessary breaking the law by physically selling to minors it is clear that the company believes that targeting a younger more impressionable crowd is the dissolvent. It’s hard to pinpoint the moral beliefs of Philip Morris. The company is still extremely successful and their success comes with the expense of the tumefy cosmos of their customers.\r\nPhilip Morris and Positive Ethical Behavior Philip Morris a company speculated for its concerned about its stakeholders has also still had initiatives that benefit society. Unlike most of its smaller competitors Philip Morris has neer manufactured flavored cigarettes. Other tobacco companies came under flagitious fire for flavored blends like Twista Lime, Mandarin Mint, Beach Breezer. These flavored cigarettes provided a way to appeal to a younger crowd. Philip Morris has never engaged in this kind of behavior and in some cases has made an effort to even admonish minors from smoking.\r\nSince 1998 the company has spent a self reported $1 billion on youth smoking prevention including its â€Å"Think Don’t Smoke” campaign that was started in the 2000’s. (3) The Philip Morris website is packed with schooling on the dangers of smoking and the company even back up FDA regulation of tobacco which was eventually allowed by t he Tobacco Control Act in 2009. Most latterly Altria was listed on Fortune Magazine’s pourboire 100 most admired companies of 2011 for positive business behavior. In the Socially Responsible category they bedded fourth.\r\nThe company donated $54 million to multiple nonprofit organizations including the Red Cross, the Smithsonian, and the United Negro College Fund. Looking at the company they engage in parts of an ethically sound corporation that values the impact it can have on society. However once the genius of the business that Philip Morris is engaged in is known only then will the company be hindered. Company Views and the Utilitarian Approach There is no query that Philip Morris’s public relation division are hard at work. Despite their social outreach its conception is misguided.\r\nThe company’s social agenda is arguably just another operating cost to help improve the reputation of Philip Morris as the best of the worse. The company’s supp ort of FDA tobacco regulation faculty have seemed like a moral move but FDA regulation of tobacco ends up assist Philip Morris. FDA regulation makes it much harder for smaller cigarette companies to survive. provided Philip Morris has the supply chain and brand recognition to remain profitable as cigarettes become more regulated. additionally FDA regulation makes the industry unattractive heightening the barriers that Philip Morris’s has gaining a competitive advantage. (1)\r\nApplying the Utilitarian approach provides an raise insight into the ethical breakdown of the company. The Utilitarian sentiment is the ideal society that starts in an original position where everyone is refer. From there changes in equality should be circulate to everyone and the changes in equality are to everyone’s advantage. fundamentally this approach with an unequally high proportion of wealth, assets, or abilities would have an affect on this type of company. With an equal chance to have an unequal proportion of wealth, assets, or abilities every individual would fight to make unequal distribution to benefit society.\r\nLooking at Philip Morris through the Utilitarian approach shows that the company is not acting fairly. Philip Morris engages in many business activities to help nurture their competitive advantage including supporting FDA regulation that would kill their competitors. On a more broad musical scale the inequality of wealth that Philip Morris has amassed over the years has not been to the advantage of society as a whole. In fact the success of the company has come at the expense of the health and well being of society.\r\nWhile it’s apparent that Philip Morris does not abide by this approach it is hard to blame the company. The Fact of the numerate for Philip Morris Because the negative effects of smoking are widely known and well supported the salutary to a healthy life falls on the individual to uphold in this situation because smok ing is known to be detrimental to that right. That being said the addictive properties of nicotine make this argument known. Philip Morris for years repeatedly denied claims about the health issues of smoking and released filtered cigarettes that claimed them to be healthier.\r\nIn many ways avoiding helping to deprive people of their right to live healthily would have been directly in opposition of their business. This makes Phillip Morris an interesting situation. Tobacco has been in Hesperian culture for around 500 years and for the legal age of that time it was a large part of culture and was celebrated as a luxury. It helped bring the colonies money. Today tobacco is frowned upon and the companies that were once so wildly successful and respected in America are being asked to limit business.\r\nTo ask Philip Morris to act completely ethically would be asking them to shut down operations completely. They sell a product that takes years off of lives and is responsible for 440,0 00 deaths each year. (4) While they can continue to pursue â€Å"healthier” forms of smoking and ingesting nicotine there is no way for the company to operate without harming someone. What makes tobacco an anomalousness in the business ethics debate is the willingness for their customers to bargain for products that will end up harming them.\r\nWhen we think of business ethics it is normally thought of as creating negative actions in the environment. In the case of Philip Morris the negative actions fall on the company’s customers who willingly accepts them. The solution to this problem does not lie in the pass of Philip Morris or any of the other tobacco companies.\r\nIn Conclusion While in the past the company has made unethical business decisions like viewing up health concerns or trying to convert the public that their cigarettes are safer the industry is at a point now where they are acting as ethically as possible. They are simply providing a product that has strong demand. It is within our government’s duty to protect citizens when they are incapable of do smart decisions as individuals. From this report the real danger here is nicotine the addictive substance in cigarettes. This issuing should be controlled by the FDA and needs to be limited. Until then tobacco and its and its suppliers will always be contested and Philip Morris will continue doing what they have been doing.\r\n'