Deadly in Pink: Philip Morris' New Look for Virginia Slims Cigarettes Shows Contempt for Wome...( Statement by: American Cancer Soc...),Health

Statement by: American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Medical Association and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Demonstrating again that it is not the changed, responsible company it claims to be, Philip Morris is launching an aggressive new campaign to market cigarettes that appeal to women and girls. The campaign is built around a new look for its Virginia Slims brand - a sleek pink "purse pack" that is compact and rectangular, with square ends, and holds "super slim" cigarettes that are very small in diameter. According to a recent story in Brandweek, Philip Morris plans to launch the repackaged Virginia Slims with a major marketing campaign by the first quarter of 2009, and it includes "Super Slims Lights" and "Super Slims Ultra Lights" varieties. The new "purse packs" are already on sale in some markets.

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Philip Morris shows contempt for women and their health by putting a pink gloss on a product that causes lung cancer and heart disease, two of the leading killers of women. It is the height of cynicism that Philip Morris timed its announcement of the new pink Virginia Slims for October - National Breast Cancer Awareness Month - when pink is usually associated with protecting women's health, not harming it. It doesn't seem to bother the nation's largest tobacco company that lung cancer from smoking is, by far, the number one cancer killer of women.

The new pink Virginia Slims continues the tobacco industry's long history of marketing cigarettes to women and girls. The pink "purse packs" imply that smoking cigarettes is feminine and fashionable. Names like "super slims" imply a link between cigarettes and weight loss for girls and women concerned about body image. And
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