Today, we have decided to offer you a special report on “ Big Tobacco And on their arrival in the e-cigarette market. If we thought for a while that tobacco manufacturers were not interested in vaping, we now realize that they were simply waiting for a confirmation of this success. A dossier that immerses us in the universe of Big Tobbaco and which shows us the difficulty that the independents of the vape will have in not succumbing to the financial power of these unscrupulous manufacturers.
FROM THE INFLUENCE OF TOBACCO TO THE ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF E-CIGARETTE
At the end of 1999, Kingsley Wheaton was in the midst of a coup. At 23, he joined the cigarette manufacturer “Rothmans” who then sent him to Dubai (Qatar). When the firm " British American Tobacco " acquired " Rothmans“, Kingsley Wheaton was given the opportunity to move to West Africa. He therefore left for Abidjan, the commercial capital of Côte d'Ivoire to promote a portfolio of brands including " Craven A"," Benson & Hedges And of course " Rothmans". On Christmas Eve, Ivorian President Henri Konan Bédié was overthrown, Kingsley Wheaton remembers' We were locked up in our houses, there were incessant gunshots for three days. "
Exactly 15 years later, Wheaton was in the midst of another potential conflict… In the years that followed, he intervened in Russia to “ British American Tobacco Before becoming the youngest member of the select board of the world's second largest tobacco company. End of 2014, British American Tobacco rewarded his hard work by putting him in charge of "next generation products" (in plain English, e-cigarettes) as responsible for the various devices delivering smokeless nicotine. Now, at 41, Kingsley Wheaton has been tasked with running his business and is making every effort to enter a field that has the potential to destroy their traditional business.
THE FIGHT AGAINST TOBACCO AND THE ACCLIMATION OF BIG TOBACCO
Since the 50s, the major tobacco companies have faced one setback after another. From 1951, in a study conducted by 40.000 British doctors, epidemiologists Richard Doll and Austin of Bradford Hill have demonstrated the link between smoking and disease. In the years that followed, Western governments introduced increasingly punitive regulatory and tax regimes. The United States banned television advertising in 1970 and the logos of cigarette brands gradually disappeared from Formula 1 cars ... Health warnings have also appeared on packages. Finally, in March 2015, the UK government followed Australia's lead and introduced the “ package with neutral packing". You should know that in the United Kingdom, taxes represent 80% the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes. Present in several = 22% men and Present in several = 17% of women are smokers which still represents only half the number of consumers compared to 1974. Although many people are against them, Big Tobacco has acclimated to the drop in demand, the world in constant development offered a growing market and paradoxically, the heavy tax regimes in Europe disguised the rise in prices of the manufacturers. The four major global tobacco companies have produced 32 billion dollars of profits in 2014.
WHEN BIG TOBACCO BUYS THE E-CIGARETTE WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!
Lately, a more radical change has happened! In 2003, a Chinese technologist named Hon Lik invented the electronic cigarette, a device that releases nicotine through an e-liquid composed of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin rather than by burning dried tobacco leaves.
The independent producers who pioneered the product first invented rudimentary e-cigarettes. For a while, Big Tobacco sat on the sidelines, but the vaping market improved and took on a whole new level. Last year, global sales represented more than 4 billion and even if it represents only a small percentage of the sale of conventional cigarettes, it remains a significant sum. Experts have suggested that over time, e-cigarettes will change the way nicotine is consumed around the world.
« The rules of the game have changed ”Announced Bonnie Herzog, analyst at Wells Fargo in the United States who is one of the most optimistic representatives on e-cigarettes and other“ reduced risk products ”. " I really think that in the next decade, the consumption of these products will exceed the cigarette consumption of tobacco"
Big Tobacco has started to realize that e-cigarettes are not a temporary fad but a real threat to the tobacco market. More than that, it could be a product that Big Tobacco has sought to produce for a long time in vain: A safer cigarette. " We can take the Kodak scenario as an example Says David Sweanor, a University of Ottawa law professor and anti-tobacco veteran, referring to the filmmaker that filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after the advent of digital photography. " Big tobacco does not especially want to make a "Kodak"« concludes David before Jonathan adds " The potential for a product that meets the expectations of their customers but does not have the adverse effects is something that Big Tobacco has dreamed of for a long time. »
Big Tobacco is late in the game and has now started to move, their team mergers and acquisitions have started buying independent e-cigarette producers. In April 2012, the American brand "Lorillard" bought Blu-cigs for $ 135 million. In 2014, Japan Tobacco took “ Zandera“, Manufacturer of E-lites. Imperial Tobacco has entered into an agreement with Hon Lik, the Chinese inventor of the e-cigarette. Philip Morris International bought “ Nicocigs", And finally British American Tobacco offered itself in December 2012 a Manchester start-up called" CN Creative"
Clives Bates, a former tobacco and health campaign manager concluded by saying " They want a dog in the fight! ”And it will be understood, with Kingsley Wheaton, British American Tobacco wishes to invest fully in the e-cigarette market.
BIG TOBACCO WANTS NOW TO DOMINATE E-CIGARETTE MARKET
Obviously these few redemptions will not satisfy Big Tobacco, which feels that in order to exist within a few years it will be necessary to dominate the e-cigarette market. So new products are already launched like " HER "Which has appeared in France and which we now see advertising and propaganda everywhere. And British American Tobacco will not be left out in history as they plan to release a new product called " Voke Which will be a simple nicotine inhaler that needs neither combustion nor battery. In addition, and as some specialists have pointed out, Big tobacco does not stop at buying brands or products but is now working to engage independent creators and other specialists in the field directly with banknotes. e-cigarette in order to catch up in the field. Unfortunately, it seems obvious that if Big Tobacco cannot sell its tobacco, it will turn into Big E-cigarette by defeating all its competitors with millions of dollars or euros. Big Tobacco knows how to adapt, acclimatize and bounce back, they have always known how to do it and it will be hard to keep an independent e-cigarette market for a long time.
SO BIG TOBACCO CAN HE SAVE THE VAPE?
This is a question that would be legitimate to ask when we understand that Big Tobacco is a steamroller. Well, yeah ! Big Tobacco can save the vape, but not our vape, the one we know and love. These tobacco giants are trying to make us believe that they want to give us safe pleasure with their new products, their “cigalike”. But let's not be naive! This is how Big Tobacco began to promote it during the Second World War and to extol the “benefits” of blond tobacco, then with the advertising bans, with the first medical studies, it was necessary to add extremely addictive and harmful products in order to make the addicted consumer and in order to be sure that he would consume until his death. Whatever happens, a merchant of death remains a merchant of death, Big Tobacco does not want to collapse and has decided to take everyone on the wrong foot. There is no doubt that within a few months and years, it will be the financing, the power and the advocates of Big Tobacco which will save the vape, but it will not be "my" vape. And can we trust the main accused of a genocide that seeks to whitewash their reputation? Never.
Source : Newsweek - Spinfuel.com (Article translated in French, modified and formatted by Vapoteurs.net)
