A patent application shows that PMI wants to persuade customers in its stores with a carbon monoxide test to switch to alternative nicotine products. The collected test data can be used to influence the public and policy. The test set-up turns out to be another smart marketing plan.

By the web editors

A patent application by Philip Morris Products SA (PMP) for China, Japan and the US shows that Philip Morris International (PMI) wants to convince customers of the reduced harmfulness of its heated tobacco product Iqos through carbon monoxide measurements in exhaled air. Measuring carbon monoxide (CO) is an easy score, because CO is indeed a substance that is released to a much lesser extent from heated tobacco. The test says nothing about other harmful substances in the emissions of heated tobacco, though. A database linked to the test system is used to store test outcomes and customer data.

The 2019 patent application, which was published in February 2022, describes the placement of test stations in Iqos stores. These consist of a testing device into which a customer exhales and a computer screen on which the results are graphically displayed. Smokers of traditional cigarettes will see a high result, which is compared to an average result of non-smokers. The customer is then advised to switch to heated tobacco or an e-cigarette. After using such a product for some time, the customer can take another breath test to determine that the CO level is significantly lower.

According to the application, the graphic representation will have “the effect of gamification of reduction of toxicant levels” and will persuade smokers who are not satisfied with the arguments alone to switch to alternative nicotine products.

Rather test in stores than at a doctor’s

In the application, Philip Morris literally describes that the system is intended to convince smokers of traditional cigarettes “to change their habits by ceasing smoking or moving to less harmful alternatives.” CO measurement is also used in medical cessation aid environments, showing smokers who want to quit that the CO level in the body has dropped after just a short time without a cigarette. CO binds in the blood to haemoglobin, which also carries oxygen throughout the body. CO therefore causes tissues and organs to receive less oxygen.

According to the patent application, smokers are less likely to walk into a general practitioner or quit aid clinic than a retail store. The filing states: “Even within a clinical environment, it can be difficult to convey the benefits of stopping smoking or of using alternatives to conventional cigarettes, such as heated tobacco products, in a way that is convincing and personal.” In a retail setting, a person is a customer and not a patient, which makes them " typically feel more comfortable and in control of the situation, and more likely to consider the benefits of stopping or changing from conventional smoking.”

In other words, a commercial salesperson has more persuasiveness than a medical professional.

Customer and test data in database

Measuring carbon monoxide in the guidance of smoking cessation already exists. The application refers to an existing device. The patent application therefore seems to be more about the database that is linked to it. To justify such a centrally maintained database of customer data, it is proposed to link the measuring stations in different stores. This is easier for customers, who can also walk into another store for the repeat test. But for PMI, it is many times more attractive, because it offers the opportunity to use the data for policy and public influencing.

The application describes: “It would also be desirable to be able to capture data of user behaviour with heated tobacco products or e-cigarettes, and the benefits of heated tobacco products or e-cigarettes as compared to conventional combustible cigarettes, so that better substantiated information can be provided to customers and regulatory bodies. Finally, it would be desirable to be able to provide population level statistics relating to the use of alternatives to conventional cigarettes, such as heated tobacco products.”

Privacy protected

The data that PMI wants to collect can include “smoking history, occupation, lifestyle, home location, working location, medical conditions and diet.” The data are linked to an ‘anonymous customer identifier’ that is linked to the customer’s identity data in a separate database. That separation allows “that the data of individual customers and whole populations of customers can be analysed in research without compromising data privacy. Such research may involve studying links between successive toxicant measurements and environmental data or studying overall population smoking behaviour.” Big data analysis methods and artificial intelligence are to be used in the analysis of the data.

Heated tobacco is also harmful

Apart from the question of how reliable the results of such research will be, data on all other harmful substances in the emissions of heated tobacco remain undiscussed. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment investigated heated tobacco products and writes in a summary on the website: “The number of substances present in the air that is inhaled when using tobacco sticks with the iQOS is lower than in cigarette smoke, but that does not mean that the health risk of HTPs is equally lower. The relationship between the amount of a substance and the harmful effects is different for each substance. For example, carcinogens can also cause cancer in lower amounts. Some substances are also present in larger quantities than in cigarette smoke.” The institute adds that heated tobacco can “cause effects on the airways. For example, they can irritate or damage lung cells.”

In May of this year, the American tobacco watchdog STOP concluded that there is no scientific evidence that heated tobacco would be less harmful than traditional cigarettes. At the same time, it is visible on all sides that manufacturers such as Philip Morris and British American Tobacco are making their heated tobacco products attractive to young people who do not yet use nicotine products, wrote the BBC. Market data also show that more young people and non-smokers use heated tobacco than older smokers.

Easy to see through, but not transparent

PMP’s patent application states every time that the test design is intended to convince smokers to quit or switch to alternative nicotine products. It is not very likely that smokers will decide to quit smoking all together after visiting an Iqos store of PMI. It is more likely that under the influence of this marketing strategy, they leave the store with a device for heating tobacco and a pack of the cigarettes that go into it.

Moreover, the intention to use the data that will be obtained from the tests to influence public opinion seems to be to influence public opinion with ‘scientifically substantiated’ marketing like ‘We at PMI prove the reduced harmfulness of PMI products’. That marketing will be easy to see through, but far from transparent.