Marketing Practices

Smiling black male retailer with short hair in a blue shirt and navy apron returning a driver’s ID to a white female consumer with blonde hair and purple top

We're committed to marketing our products responsibly by building relationships between adult smokers 21+ and our brands while taking steps designed to limit reach to unintended audiences.

Philip Morris USA is guided by Altria Group's Vision and Code of Conduct.

We market brands such as Marlboro®, L&M®, Parliament®, Virginia Slims® and Basic® in the United States. We compete to grow our share of the market. This means we want adult smokers 21+ to remain loyal to our product brands. And we want adult smokers 21+ who smoke other brands to transition to ours.

Consumer Communications

We market our products to adult smokers 21+ and limit the reach of our products and marketing materials to unintended audiences, including non-smokers and people under the legal age to purchase nicotine products. We limit access to our product-branded websites to adult nicotine consumers 21+ by requiring our consumers to verify their age through an electronic age verification process and confirm that they are adult nicotine consumers 21+ prior to gaining access to our product-branded websites.

Our responsible marketing activities include:

  • One-to-one Communications - We use direct mail, SMS and email to support the launch of products, invite adult smokers 21+ to consumer engagement programs, announce product brand promotions and deliver coupons and other communications. We maintain a secure database of age-verified adult nicotine consumers 21+ who have elected to hear from us. A person may request to no longer receive communications from us at any time.
  • Consumer Websites - Our age-restricted brand websites enable adult smokers 21+ to interact with our product brands. We use these websites to build brand equity, deliver news and provide promotional support.
  • Consumer Marketing Activities - We offer consumer engagement programs, to reinforce product brand equity.
  • Magazine Advertising Placement - PM USA does not currently advertise its cigarette brands in consumer magazines and newspapers.
  

Trade Programs

We offer trade programs to retailers and wholesalers that help them responsibly manage the tobacco category. Our retail trade program is built on effective category management principles, including:

  • merchandising our products in an organized way;
  • having our brands in-stock and available;
  • having our most popular brands in preferred positions;
  • clearly communicating price and promotional offers; and
  • deterring access by underage purchasers.

The program also includes features that go beyond federal law to help prevent underage access to tobacco products, such as store clerk training and access prevention signage. In addition, we've developed rigorous compliance and training systems to govern retail marketing materials. Learn More

In some tobacco categories, we also offer additional financial incentives to retailers who refrain from placing any tobacco products on top of or below the front of the selling counter. We also limit the location, size and amount of PM USA interior and exterior signs at retail.

Protecting our Consumers – Data Security

We collect personal information as part of our age-verified adult tobacco consumer 21+ database and we take protecting that data seriously. We continue to make investments in administrative, technical and physical safeguards intended to protect our information systems and data from cyber-threats, including human error and malicious acts. Our safeguards include employee training, testing and auditing protocols, backup systems and business continuity plans, maintenance of security policies and procedures, monitoring of networks and systems and third-party risk. 

Age Verification on Product Brand Communication

We limit access to our product-branded websites to adult nicotine consumers 21+. We require consumers to verify their age through an electronic age verification process and confirm that they are adult nicotine consumers 21+ prior to gaining access to our product brand websites.

Electronic age-verification checks the personal information provided by an individual against public-records databases and third-party data sources to verify the personal information. If the records confirm the individual’s age, they gain access to the website. If not, access to the product-branded marketing sections of the website is denied.

To further prevent underage persons from accessing our tobacco brand websites, our websites are compatible with age-filtering software. Such software can be used to block access to websites considered unsuitable for children.

Marketing Restrictions

Cigarette marketing and sales are regulated at the federal, state and local level.

Learn more

Product Placement Requests

We’ve had a policy since 1990 to deny all requests for permission to use or display our brands in any movies, television or video games.

Learn more