The Marlborough man hangs up his boots in Australia Part 2

It’s All About Customer Satisfaction.

Nicotine is highly addictive.

When you light up a cigarette and take that first long draw into the lungs, the smoke goes immediately into the bloodstream, and the toxins are in your brain within 7 to 10 seconds. The nicotine gives rise to certain chemical reactions that result in temporary feelings of pleasure, which are very short-lived, dissipating within minutes.

As soon as the nicotine level drops in the blood, you begin to feel nervy and irritable, classic signs of nicotine withdrawal. And so the whole vicious circle is poised to start again!

The tobacco industry thrives on, and makes billions, gaining new customers, and doing whatever it takes to keep them addicted. If there was no element of addiction there would be no smokers – and no enormous, profitable tobacco industry.

This is in spite of the fact that tobacco in cigarettes and related products, is known to be the greatest cause of preventable deaths all over the world.

Smoking and the US Military.

As far back as 1918, the military began supporting efforts to distribute cigarettes to troops. They were encouraged by The New York Times who stated that cigarettes lightened the hardships of war, and were a solace for the wounded.

The rise of World War 2 in 1939, and subsequent wars such as Korea and Vietnam, saw tobacco companies taking advantage of the culture of wartime smoking by sending free cigarettes to troops. They also firmly supported the US Military’s decision to include cigarettes into the soldier’s rations.

In the 1950’s research began to reveal the dangers of tobacco products, but this was largely ignored by the Military who actively encouraged smoking, and continued to include cigarettes in the rations until 1975, when it was outlawed by the Department of Defence.

Unwilling to just let go of the millions of cigarettes previously sent to the soldiers, tobacco companies in 1990, began to campaign in earnest to supply what was called care packages, which would include food, personal items – and cigarettes, to soldiers now being deployed in the Middle East.

The tobacco companies were surprised when the Department of Defence shot down the idea in a cloud of smoke.

But thanks in part to ignoring the dangers of smoking by the US Military, and mainly to vigorous marketing campaigns by tobacco companies, untold thousands of GI’s became addicted to cigarettes.  Many had to cope with the devastating health effects of tobacco use, and thousands died as a direct result of smoking-related complications.

The Marlboro Man.

The Marlboro Man was a rugged, cowboy type figure used by tobacco giant Philip Morris International to promote their best-selling brand Marlboro cigarettes. It was immensely successful, and resulted in a global soaring of their sales.

The campaign was launched in 1954, the same year that Philip Morris was established in Melbourne, Australia. Although tobacco had been commercially grown in Australia from around 1788, after the opening of the Melbourne factory in 1954, the demand for tobacco was so strong that it was being commercially grown all over Australia.

Commercial grower’s licences were withdrawn in 2006, after it became apparent that the soil had become so contaminated from repeated growing of tobacco crops, that the land could not be used for animal grazing for meat production.

The Marlboro Man made his first appearance in the Australian media in the 60’s, and cigarette sales reached an all-time high.

Keeping the customer satisfied is why you are addicted to nicotine!

At the same time that the Marlboro Man was galloping around Australia in 1960, Philip Morris scientists came up with a new discovery. They realised that when ammonia was added to the process of manufacturing cigarettes, it enhanced the flavour and gave extra satisfaction to the smoking experience.

However, independent research showed that ammonia in cigarettes can actually boost the availability of nicotine from the smoke by up to 100 times. The studies also indicated that ammonia added to cigarettes enormously raised the possibility of serious nicotine addiction.

Philip Morris was the first to employ the so-called ammonia technology, but other companies soon followed suit and jumped on the bandwagon to increase their sales. Accusations of increasing the effects of nicotine delivery in their products, have unanimously been defended as simply improving taste and flavour, to provide customer satisfaction.

The tobacco industry needs you to get addicted, and stay addicted, to keep sales high and the profits rolling in. Evidence has shown that ammonia in cigarettes which is a normal part of the manufacturing process today, can lead to a quicker, deeper addiction to nicotine.

A dangerous cocktail.

Apart from nicotine and ammonia, cigarettes also contain trace amounts of tar, formaldehyde, cyanide, arsenic and DDT. All these chemicals pose definite health risks to the human body.

Stop smoking today!

You CAN kick the nicotine habit, but it will not happen overnight. It will take strength and perseverance to get your health back to the place where it needs to be. Start today, don’t sacrifice another day of your life to tobacco.

In 2014 Philip Morris closed their Australian plant after 60 years, citing mainly a drop in sales, and an increase in expenses.

 The Marlboro man sailed away from the shores of Australia.

In 2014, Philip Morris closed their plant in Melbourne after 60 years, citing a drop in sales, and difficult new Australian fire-control factory legislation. The Marlboro Man sailed away from.