Price reductions will depend on the type of promotion. The actual list price for wholesalers will remain the same, the company said.
#Marlboro cigarettes price free#
Through the campaign, which will continue until at least next December and involve coupons, free products at point-of-sale and other promotions, the retail cost of a pack of Marlboros will decrease by roughly 40 cents. Those other brands include Benson & Hedges, Merit and Virginia Slims. The main thrust of Philip Morris' campaign focuses on Marlboro, but the company said it will forgo price increases on its other premium brands for the "foreseeable future" and attempt to boost their strength as well through promotions. The brand already is preferred by as many as 60 percent of teenage smokers, said Michael Erickson, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Other public health foes of the tobacco industry expressed concern that the Marlboro discounts would encourage teenage smokers, who are the most price-sensitive, to take up the habit or smoke more.
"Clinton has shown a personal vendetta against the cigarette companies, and the stock market is extremely suspicious about some of his programs, including tax policy," said Front. One reason for the big selloff of cigarette stocks is a general fear on Wall Street about Clinton administration plans for reregulation of certain sectors of the economy, something that was hardly an issue over the last 12 years, said Marshall Front, president of Stein Roe & Farnham Investment Counsel of Chicago. Though most analysts said the Clinton administration's proposed $2-per-pack sin tax had little to do with the move, Ellen Barras, an analyst with Duff & Phelps, said, "It clearly makes them better positioned if an excise tax comes through." But last year, shipments of Marlboro were down 5.6 percent, and one analyst said shipments in the first three months of 1993 were down 8 percent. In the long term, the tobacco industry, which has enjoyed 50 percent profit margins on its premium brands, will find it increasingly difficult to raise prices, Adelman said.ĭespite the explosion in discount brands, Marlboro remains the top brand in the country, with a 22 percent share of the market.
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