Connecting with our Consumers
Marketing activities are intended to connect brands with adult tobacco consumers 21+.
Our tobacco operating companies’ develop marketing plans that use a variety of activities, tools and channels, including a substantial age-verified adult tobacco consumer database, to engage with adult consumers 21+.
The external vendor that manages our electronic age-verification process conducts quarterly audits. In 2024, each of these quarterly third-party audits reflected a 100 percent effectiveness rate in screening out persons under the minimum legal age from accessing our companies' branded tobacco websites.
If our tobacco companies advertise in traditional media, they limit these ads to newspapers, magazines and other publications, and are careful to pick those publications that meet the criteria of an "adult publication" under the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) proposed definition. Where we use print advertising (newspapers, magazines, periodicals or other publications), we are guided by the FDA’s proposed definition of the term "adult publication" but have increased the age from 18 to 21. Under this standard, an adult publication is one:
- whose readers younger than 21 years of age constitute 15 percent or less of the total readership as measured by competent and reliable survey evidence; and
- that is read by fewer than two million persons younger than 21 years of age as measured by competent and reliable survey evidence.
Our companies use brand websites to communicate with adult tobacco consumers 21+. To gain access, we require visitors to confirm that they are adult tobacco consumers and we use an age-verification process to confirm they are 21 years of age or older. Some of our companies sell age-restricted products through branded e-commerce websites. In addition to the age-verification process, the sites are designed to comply with all laws involving the sale and delivery of tobacco.
Examples of our tobacco companies' marketing practices include:
- connecting with adult tobacco consumers 21+ through direct mail and websites;
- supporting product launches in adult-only facilities;
- working with retailers to merchandise tobacco products responsibly;
- denying requests to use their brands in movies, television, video games and other entertainment media; and
- advertising only in publications that meet the FDA's proposed criteria.
Social media has become a ubiquitous part of everyday life for many people and a powerful channel for companies to stay connected to their consumers. We’re committed to keeping our adult tobacco consumers 21+ at the center of everything we do. As social media continues to shift how people communicate across the world, we’ll consider the implications for how we responsibly engage with our adult tobacco consumers 21+. As always, we’ll be guided by our current marketing practices, including taking steps designed to limit reach to unintended audiences, including non-users and people under the legal age to purchase tobacco products.
As communication channels evolve, we'll consider the implications for how we responsibly engage with our adult tobacco consumers 21+. As always, we'll be guided by our current marketing practices, including taking steps designed to limit reach to unintended audiences.
