On HBO’s Last Week Tonight over the weekend, John Oliver tackled the current status of the tobacco industry and the troubling marketing and legal practices of Philip Morris International.
A lot of effort over the past few decades has led to the end of the Marlboro man and Joe Camel in order to decrease the appeal of smoking cigarettes, primarily for younger people.
Adult smoking rates in the U.S. have fallen from about 43 percent in 1965 to about 18 percent today. So why are tobacco industry profits rising? Part of the reason is that while rates are going down in America, they are actually going up drastically in other parts of the world.
Tobacco consumption in developing nations went up by around 70 percent between 1970 and 2000, according to the United Nations. “Much of the increase was in China,” The New York Times reported in 2013, “but there has also been substantial growth in Africa, where smoking rates have traditionally been low.”
Philip Morris International has made it challenging for smaller countries to put public health warnings on cigarettes because with such deep pockets, the company has a lot of leverage.
Despite financial leverage, they still can’t have their iconic Marlboro man anymore, so what’s a more realistic character that could accurately represent the tobacco industry?
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Oliver has a brilliant suggestion – Jeff, the Diseased Lung in a Cowboy Hat. He’s already a big hit, even with small children! #JEFFWECAN
