Post a Comment On: Transplant Athlete

My local station NBC4 just ran a piece on fire safe cigarettes, currently only sold in New York City. They cite a Harvard study which found that the fire safe cigarettes are no more toxic than ordinary cigarettes, there is no difference in price, and they sell just as well as ordinary cigarettes.
I hate cigarettes, but I believe in the ideals of our founding fathers: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." If lighting up makes you happy, you are free to do it, just don't expcect me to hang around while you do it. Banning cigarettes or taxing them out of existince is more up ole King George's route, but making them safer and marketing the hell out of them is the American way. Yes, Ralph Nader had to drag the car companies kicking and screaming into the safety realm, but now that they are here, you see crash test results in almost all of the ads. There's a commercial on TV showing a Truck hauling a trailer down a mountain and the whole point of the ad is the integrated breaking system that STOPS THE TRUCK (imagine that, a braking system that actually stops the truck). Safety Sells...Get with the program Philip Morris.
There is a PR flunkie, Jamie Drogin, for Philip Morris saying,
"We want all manufacturers to play by the same rules. Um, and we believe that the way to address all of those issues is through Federal Legislation that would establish a uniform policy."
I understand it will cost them money to switch over their product lines. I'm guessing that saving 800 lives per year just isn't worth opening themselves up to the flood of lawsuits which will happen when they make the switch. If you make a fire safe cigarette, then the old cigarettes are by definition fire hazards.
So Jamie, why is Federal Legislation needed for your company to create a better product? Imagine if we had to wait for the government to legislate faster computers. We would still be counting on our fingers right now. Don't you think that a safer cigarette should be a part of your kinder gentler brand image? Show your customers you care.