Yesmoke Tobacco S.p.A.

In this sheeplike gathering of consumers called Italy, counter-information is the only way to  let the public know what would otherwise remain hushed up forever.

*Yesmoke’s toll-free number (Numero Verde), which can be used only on the land telephone network

Benito Mussolini once said, “with freedom of the press, newspapers publish only what the big industries and banks want to see printed, those who are funding the newspaper.”  The Duce was right, at least when it came to  the mass media.

Today anyone who presents his work as “counter-information“ implies that the media are, partly or totally obsequious to political and, above all, economic interests and therefore, they are not  in a position to present reality objectively. Read more »

Aside from the lawsuits of relatives of smokers who died prematurely, Big Tobacco is not having a bad time in the States, where it is freer than in Europe.

Chemical formula of the "Crack nicotina"

Based on its top-secret criteria, Philip Morris decides on the doses of chemical additives most suitable for each country, to be used in its cigarettes. But which are the worst cigarettes, those sold in the third world or those smoked in the streets of New York?

Tobacco imported into the USA is not subjected any inspections. Nitrosamine, ammonia, pesticides, nicotine… . The cigarettes smoked in America repeatedly record the highest values. Read more »

According to the A.A.M.S, the information insert of the new Yesmokes contains things that cannot be said.

“Make your contribution to take market quotas away from the tobacco multinationals”. According to the Autonomous Agency of the State Monopoly (Azienda Autonoma Monopoli di Stato), this statement cannot be used.

“Inserts must contain exclusively instructive information on the product, and must contain no references, direct or indirect, to promotional aspects”, continued the A.A.M.S.

So, while for years the multinationals have been disseminating all sorts of promotions in Italy, Yesmoke’s information slip is judged not compliant with current regulations.
Read more »

For the Italian Parents’ Movement - Movimento Italiano Genitori (MOIGE), children’s health is an entirely relative problem.

This association, which arrogates the right to represent Italian parents and enters homes and schools, conducts questionable campaigns on the prevention of smoking among minors, thanks to the money of Philip Morris and of the Italian Tobacconists Federation —Federazione Italiana Tabaccai— FIT.

An association like the MOIGE, “for parents dedicated to the safeguarding and the growth of their most precious fruits”, is ideal for Big Tobacco.

Such campaigns of sponsored pseudo-prevention have been condemned by the international scientific community, not so much because they are accompanied by the brand names and in any case do advertising, but because, besides being banal, rhetorical and ineffective, they subtly  promote a “friendly marketing”, that is, an attractive image of the tobacco manufacturer sponsors. Read more »