Māori Public Health has accused big tobacco company Philip Morris of "using Smokefree 2025 as a profit-making marketing campaign" after it allegedly targeted disadvantaged groups with its smokeless tobacco devices as demands for its cigarettes decrease.
The global corporation, which has been in the tobacco trade for 172 years, swears in statements that it simply wants to help nicotine addicts switch from cigarettes to less harmful, smokeless vapour e-cigarette options.
National tobacco control advocacy group Hāpai Te Hauora/Māori Public Health general manager Mihi Blair said that vaping "is much less harmful than tobacco", and is one of the options being looked at "as a quit tool for New Zealand".
But she said the "biggest frustration" with Philip Morris is that the company is "just doing the same tactics that they've been doing for decades, centuries".
"They're riding off the back of the Smokefree 2025 that everyone's passionate about and they're just utilising that to make money out of it," Ms Blair told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning. "So it is really frustrating to see yet again, having to go up against big tobacco companies, but this time in the vaping sector and we just need to separate it."
It comes after RNZ found that Philip Morris has been targeting Māori by selling its IQOS vape devices at half price in "community activations" - typically in South Auckland marae and rugby league clubs - where smoking rates are known to be high.
The US based company says it aims to stop selling cigarettes in New Zealand but wants tax breaks on smokefree tobacco sticks. (Source: Other)
"The IQOS product is just one of many tobacco products that they're trying to push into not only our communities in Aotearoa, but worldwide, so their tactics of going into our own communities is actually a bit underhanded," she said.
"We feel that they are just there to make a profit and we're just calling it out. They're just using Smokefree 2025 as a profit-making marketing campaign."
The Smokefree 2025 campaign “doesn't include vaping, so we have to be very clear that smoking and vaping are two different things", she added.
Ms Blair said while vaping is a better alternative than smoking, their strategy of "going to DHBs, going to ministers to try and promote their product, going to marae and communities" is a cause for "massive concern".
"We have a lot of New Zealand vape companies who are ex-smokers, for one, and so they've created these vaping products on that purpose, so we really want to push out to say there's a tobacco company that are just there to make profit, and they're utilising that.
"If they were really real about making this Smokefree 2025 goal and helping Aotearoa to do that, then they should actually present us an exit strategy of their tobacco out of communities first and foremost."
She added that she's "simply not buying" Philip Morris' claims that the company is focusing on helping the community by switching from cigarettes to vaping.
She called on the company to "show us your exit strategy of the one that is killing our people, and that's tobacco".
"Show us that, then look at stop marketing to the Māori and Pasifika the way that you are doing, and actually front up and talk to the communities in the tobacco control sector, and be upfront about your tactics."
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