DIRECTIONS: Fill in items in [UPPER CASE], and feel free to modify to suit your needs!)

Note: Those of you in countries where British American Tobacco is the main player may want modify the press release to include comments on BAT's annual general meeting earlier this week (April 16th). This year also happens to be BAT's 100th anniversary. Read BAT Chairman Martin Broughton's speech

Contact: [YOUR NAME]
Phone: [PHONE]

Contact: Anna White or Robert Weissman, Essential Action (Washington, DC)
Phone: +1 202-387-8030, Fax: +1 202-234-5176
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Tobacco Giant Philip Morris’ New Name Can’t Hide its Global Shame!
Dozens of U.S. Activists to Expose Company’s Global Trail of Death, Disease, and Deceit
at Company’s Annual Shareholders Meeting in [Richmond, VA/U.S.]

[YOUR CITY] – On April 25th the world’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris, will officially change its name to “Altria” at its annual shareholders meeting in Richmond, Virginia [USA], in what activists around the world are calling a futile attempt by the company to escape its infamous reputation as a global “Merchant of Death.”

Over twenty-five tobacco control activists involved with Essential Action’s Global Partnerships for Tobacco Control (GPTC) program, of which [YOUR ORGANIZATION] is a member, will be present to send a strong message to the company that, until it puts people before profits, no name will be able to alleviate the company’s massive global public relations problem.

GPTC groups from Minnesota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, along with other U.S. activists, will hold a demonstration outside the shareholders’ meeting to bring attention to Philip Morris’ egregious practices around the world.

Some of the company’s serious transgressions in the last year include: issuing a report in the Czech Republic which concluded that smoking is good for the economy because smokers die earlier, thus saving the government money on pensions, healthcare, and housing; featuring a pregnant woman on a billboard advertisement for L & M cigarettes (Ukraine); and sponsoring a promotional concert in Niger that attracted thousands of teenagers and at which free cigarettes were distributed to youth as young as 10. In the last year, evidence of the company’s involvement in cigarette smuggling around the world has also been introduced in court and reported on by the media.

Inside the meeting, Eva Kralikova of the Czech Republic, well-known for her role in exposing Philip Morris’ now infamous "Czech" report, will hold Philip Morris accountable for its actions outside of the U.S. Several other GPTC participants plan to present statements on behalf of their global partners in Sri Lanka, Niger, Romania, and India.

[INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR SOLIDARITY EVENT (IF YOU ARE PLANNING ONE), E.G. A “DIE-IN”, SYMBOLIC FUNERAL PROCESSION, DEMONSTRATION, PRESS CONFERENCE etc]

[INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP (IF YOU HAVE ONE) AND PHILIP MORRIS’ ACTIVITIES IN YOUR PARTNER’S COUNTRY]

[QUOTE FROM YOU &/OR YOUR GLOBAL PARTNER RE: PHILIP MORRIS’ NAME CHANGE &/OR GLOBAL ACTIVITIES]

The April 25th meeting is also significant, because British citizen Louis Camilleri will officially replace Geoffrey Bible as president and chief executive officer. In 1990, Camilleri led the aggressive expansion of Philip Morris’ tobacco business in Central and Eastern Europe.

This year also marks Philip Morris' 100th anniversary. During the past century, tobacco killed 100 million people around the world. If the global tobacco industry is not reigned in, it will kill a mind-boggling 1 billion people this century.

By 2030, the World Health Organization projects that tobacco will kill 10 million people annually. This is equivalent to 70 planes crashing each and every day of the year.

“Philip Morris’ deliberate and aggressive promotion of its highly addictive, lethal products is nothing less than a global massacre, on a scale that humankind has never before experienced,” says Anna White, Coordinator of GPTC, “The company has proven time and time again that ever-increasing profits are much more important to it than the sanctity of human life. A new name cannot wash the company of its shameful crimes.”

U.S. GPTC groups consider their presence at the shareholders meeting an act of solidarity with their colleagues abroad, many of whom are based in low-income countries with few or no financial resources to counter wealthy, powerful multinational tobacco corporations' sophisticated marketing campaigns and rampant abuse of political influence.

"Once again Philip Morris is trying to change public perception of the company with meaningless cosmetic changes, instead of changing the sordid practices that are at the root of its negative reputation," says White [OR YOUR NAME], "Pretty soon "Altria" will just be another nickname for death and deceit."

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[INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR GROUP]

Essential Action is a [U.S./DC-BASED] corporate accountability group. Its Global Partnerships for Tobacco Control program pairs tobacco control groups in the U.S. and Canada with groups in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central/Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union and facilitates their working on joint projects and campaigns. Currently more than 360 groups from 100 countries and 40 U.S. states are involved in the program. For more information see http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco