Marketing Responsibly

Connecting with the Trade

Our tobacco companies sell their products to wholesalers, who in turn, sell to retailers and other wholesalers. Altria Group Distribution Company (AGDC) provides sales and distribution services for our tobacco companies. Wholesalers and retailers, also known as "our trade partners", play critical roles in our product distribution network.

AGDC works with our trade partners to execute our trade programs, which help them responsibly manage their tobacco category. Our retail trade program is built on effective category management principles and includes features that help prevent underage access to tobacco products. The program also includes features not required by federal law, such as store clerk training and access prevention signage. In addition, we've developed rigorous compliance and training systems to govern marketing material production. In some tobacco categories, we also offer financial incentives to retailers who refrain from placing any tobacco products on top of or below the front of the selling counter.

In 2019, the breadth of our sales coverage included 213,000 retail stores, representing 94 percent of tobacco industry volume.

Visit our 2019 Corporate Responsibility Progress Report to Learn More

Federal Regulation of Tobacco

Tobacco and wine products are among the most heavily regulated consumer goods in the world. These adult consumer products are subject to extensive federal, state and local licensing, registration and minimum age requirements. These requirements became even more extensive in 2009 when Congress empowered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products. The FDA has the authority to regulate virtually all aspects of the sale, distribution and marketing of tobacco products. Currently, the FDA regulates cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, "roll-your-own" tobacco and smokeless tobacco products.

On May 10, 2016, the FDA published a Final Rule to extend the Agency’s authority to regulate other tobacco products, including cigars and e-vapor products.

• imposing a national minimum age of 18 to purchase;
• prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in vending machines, self-service displays or other impersonal modes of sales, except in very limited situations;
• prohibiting sampling of cigarettes;
• restricting sampling of smokeless tobacco;
• prohibiting cigarette and smokeless tobacco brand name sponsorships; and
• prohibiting the sale or distribution of items, such as hat and t-shirts, with cigarette and smokeless tobacco brands or logos.

The significant rise in youth use of e-vapor threatens to undermine the hard-fought gains made in preventing underage use of conventional tobacco products. We support the FDA's commitment to leverage its authority and resources to take additional steps to address these new, emerging issues associated with underage use, while continuing the progress that's been made on traditional products.

Altria is committed to being part of the solution. In addition to our long-standing efforts, we supported legislation to raise the minimum age for all tobacco products to 21. We believe this is the most effective step available to reverse rising underage e-vapor rates and protecting the potential for reduced harm products for adults. In December 2019, federal legislation raised the legal age of purchase for all tobacco products to 21, making it the law of the land.

Responsibly Marketing Innovative Tobacco Products

Our companies' commitments to responsible marketing extend across our product portfolios, to include innovative products like on!^® nicotine pouches. New products that have already received FDA authorization, like IQOS, are subject to FDA's advanced review of marketing materials and post-market surveillance requirements. These regulatory requirements re-enforce our standards for responsible marketing and serve as affirmation of our companies’ adherence to our commitments. However, FDA has not issued regulations to broadly restrict manufacturer marketing practices of newer tobacco products, like oral nicotine pouches. In absence of these regulations, we believe all manufacturers have a responsibility to limit reach to unintended audiences, including non-users and people under the legal age to purchase tobacco products. Doing so will help ensure that these innovative tobacco products do not cause unintended societal harm and preserve the viability of these products as potential pathways for adult tobacco consumers interested in transitioning away from cigarettes. 

Visit our 2019 Corporate Responsibility Progress Report to Learn More

Tobacco Settlement Agreements

The Food and Drug Administration began regulating tobacco products against the backdrop of the 1998 Tobacco Settlement Agreements, which fundamentally changed how companies market cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products in the United States. These agreements banned or heavily restricted a wide range of marketing practices.

The nation's leading cigarette manufacturers, including Philip Morris USA, entered into the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with the attorneys general of 46 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Prior to entering into the MSA, PM USA and several other cigarette companies already had reached similar agreements with Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi and Texas. These agreements are collectively referred to as the tobacco settlement agreements.

The U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company is the only smokeless tobacco manufacturer to sign the Smokeless Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement with the attorneys general of 45 states.

These agreements fundamentally changed how companies advertise, market and sell tobacco products in the United States. They include a variety of restrictions on the sale and marketing of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, including prohibiting:

• use of cartoons in advertising, promotion, packaging or labeling of tobacco products;
• most outdoor advertising, including billboards and stadium ads;
• most transit ads;
• paid product placement;
• certain brand-name sponsorships; and
• distribution of merchandise with cigarette or smokeless tobacco brand names and logos.