Altria Group
From SourceWatch
Formerly Philip Morris, Altria brand names include cigarette brands Marlboro, Basic, Chesterfield, Lark, L&M, Parliament and Virginia Slims. Other consumer brands under Altria include Kraft, Jacobs, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Post and Tang.
On December 15, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris and its parent company, Altria Group, saying they did not mislead consumers when advertising "light" cigarettes. [1] (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121502034.html)
The Chicago Tribune reports that Philip Morris' lawyers "contributed $16,800 to help elect a judge who cast a deciding vote" in the case. Judge Lloyd Karmeier "also received $1.2 million in campaign money from a group that filed an amicus brief supporting the cigarette-maker." The Illinois Chamber of Commerce, "which also filed an amicus brief in support of Philip Morris, contributed $269,338" to Karmeier's campaign. Yet Karmeier did not recuse himself. The court's press secretary said Karmeier "has tried to insulate himself from knowing the identities of campaign contributors and would not allow campaign contributions to have any effect on his ruling in this or any other case." [2] (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0512160121dec16,1,2628001.story?coll=chi-business-hed)
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Personnel
- Craig L. Fuller was named Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs at Philip Morris Companies in 1992.
Other SourceWatch resources
Internal PM documents
Information on how Philip Morris used disinformation is available from pmdocs.com (http://www.pmdocs.com/), a webized collection of documents recovered during lawsuits against them.
External links
- Patricia Reaney, "Philip Morris hid passive smoke data (http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=619519§ion=news)", Reuters, November 11, 2004.
- Andrew Burrell, "Philip Morris deal sets investment scene alight (http://afr.com/premium/articles/2005/03/22/1111254018383.html)", Australian Financial Review, March 23, 2005.
- Jamie Doward and Lea Teuscher, "Tobacco firms' subtle tactics lure smokers to their brand: Philip Morris and other cigarette giants take to subliminal style messages after cigarette advertising is banned (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1577892,00.html)," The Observer (UK), September 25, 2005.
- Barbara Rose, "Philip Morris law firms, supporters backed judge (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0512160121dec16,1,2628001.story?coll=chi-business-hed)", Chicago Tribune, December 16, 2005.
- David A. Vise, "Court Overturns $10 Billion Verdict Against Philip Morris (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121502034.html)", Washington Post, December 16, 2005; Page D02.
- Patricia Callahan, Jeremy Manier and Delroy Alexander, "Where there's smoke, there might be food research, too: (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0601290254jan29,1,3082179.story?coll=chi-business-hed) Documents indicate Kraft, Philip Morris shared expertise on how the brain processes tastes, smells", Chicago Tribune, January 29, 2006.
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