Phillip Morris to Start Selling Marijuana Under Marlboro M Brand?
YouTube/TialtenangoOrg
It is bad that cigarettes are linked to lung cancer and tobacco firms continue to push their addicting products, especially to young people. Now, tobacco giant Phillip Morris is even making smoking more addictive by marketing marijuana cigarettes under the brand Marlboro M, according to report from a Web site named Abril Uno.
The new source of addiction is allegedly riding on the legalisation of the cannabis and plans to sell their product in Colorado and Washington in the later part of 2014 when it becomes commercially legal.
Serafin Norcik, senior vice president for marketing of Phillip Morris, was quoted as saying that the company has started to contact former drug lords in Mexico and Paraguay which are the largest marijuana-producing nations in the world, to possibly set up a distribution network of Marlboro M across North and South America.
Taking advantage of the ban covering only advertisements and promotions in the U.S., Phillip Morris reportedly has allocated $15 billion advertising budget to promote the new vice. It is currently negotiating with major networks and publishers to marked Marlboro M by January 2015, the report said.
Phillip Morris is said to have had bought a lot of ad airtime for Superbowl XLIX, but the advert could only be viewed in the two states, while in the other states, what will be shown would only be a static "M" logo while smoke billows in the background.
YouTube/news
However, Clasiclite reported that the story was a hoax. It pointed out that even if the weed has been legalised in Colorado, the source of the news is the Web site whose English name translates to April 1, a day also known as April Fool's Day when people often pull pranks and have a good laugh later.
For sure, health advocates are happy it is only a hoax.