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IMPENDING KRAFT SPLIT FROM PHILIP MORRIS/ALTRIA SEEN AS VICTORY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH After Twenty Years Trying to Fool Consumers Tobacco Giant Prepares for Dramatic Shift For Immediate Release: Contact: East Hanover, NJ--The annual shareholders' meetings of Philip Morris/Altria and its Kraft Foods subsidiary, both taking place this week in East Hanover, New Jersey, are drawing attention to the Altria Group's much anticipated breakup. Health and corporate accountability groups are preparing to celebrate the split as a major victory for public health. Since acquiring Kraft in 1988, Philip Morris/Altria has been broadly criticized for disguising political contributions as macaroni-and-cheese money. Corporate accountability groups also suspect the tobacco giant has used its food advertising muscle to limit negative news coverage with media outlets. For months analysts have projected the breakup will occur in 2006. Philip Morris/Altria's executives have not committed to a specific date. Investors and public interest groups alike are eager to see if the corporation divulges any more specific details about the forthcoming breakup at this year's shareholders' meetings. "The breakup will dramatically reduce the financial resources and political clout of the world's largest tobacco corporation and stop it from hiding behind Kraft's kid-friendly image," says Corporate Accountability International Executive Director Kathryn Mulvey. According to Mulvey, Kraft's ties to the Marlboro Man have proved a liability for the food giant. For example, in 2001, as Corporate Accountability International stepped up its Kraft Boycott, a Harris Interactive poll found 16% of respondents familiar with Philip Morris/Altria had boycotted its products in the past year. "For years, Philip Morris/Altria has disguised Big Tobacco's political contributions and lobbying behind Kraft Foods. This breakup will really decrease its political cover," explains Mulvey. For example, in 1995 the corporation mobilized its Oscar Mayer employees to lobby the federal government against tobacco regulations. Additionally, Corporate Accountability International suspects that for years after Philip Morris/Altria gave up overtly promoting Marlboro cigarettes on TV, the corporation used Kraft's sizable marketing budget to continue to curry favor with major media outlets. Advertising Age magazine rates Philip Morris/Altria in the top 20 U.S. advertising spenders, with nearly 40% of its $1.4 billion marketing budget designated to TV advertising. The corporation spends more than $800 million advertising food products. Still, health and corporate accountability groups will remain vigilant. The breakup is also expected to cut loose Philip Morris International (PMI) from its U.S. parent corporation. PMI is now infamous for trying to undermine the global tobacco treaty in Mexico and Thailand. "More than 100 health and corporate accountability groups have signed onto a set of demands, to be issued to the parent corporation before the breakup, to prevent PMI from doing its dirty work in the shadows abroad," says Anna White, an organizer with Essential Action, a D.C. based corporate accountability group. # # # Corporate Accountability International, formerly Infact, is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. For over 25 years, we've forced corporations--like Nestlé, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria--to stop abusive actions. Corporate Accountability International, an NGO in Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), played a key role in development of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
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