Campaign to counter a deteriorating consumer market: Philip Morris's Project Sunrise.

OBJECTIVES

From 1997 to 2000, Philip Morris implemented Project Sunrise. This paper discusses the impact of this project on national and Philip Morris's cigarette unit sales, public opinion about smoking and secondhand tobacco smoke, and national prevalence trends for tobacco use.

STUDY DESIGN

A qualitative archival content analysis of Project Sunrise from 1997 to 2000, and a descriptive statistical analysis of cigarette unit sales and operating profits, acceptability of smoking and secondhand tobacco smoke, and national prevalence trends for tobacco use from 1996 to 2006.

METHODS

Qualitative data sources related to Project Sunrise found on WebCat, Pubmed.com, LexisNexis Academic and Philip Morris's website, and archived tobacco industry documents were analysed using NVivo Version 9.0. A descriptive statistical analysis of cigarette unit sales, public opinion about smoking and secondhand tobacco smoke, and national prevalence trends for tobacco use was undertaken.

RESULTS

Project Sunrise was a high-level strategic corporate plan to maintain profits that included four possible scenarios resulting in seven interwoven strategies. However, national prevalence rates for tobacco use declined, sales of national and Philip Morris cigarettes declined, operating profits remained at substantially lower levels after 2000 from 2001 to 2006, and a large majority of Americans agreed that there were significant health dangers associated with smoking and secondhand tobacco smoke.

CONCLUSION

The impact of Project Sunrise, including countering the anti-tobacco movement, was less than successful in the USA.