Italy’s AGCM competition authority said Wednesday it had fined Philip Morris Italia seven million euros ($8.1 million) for misleading consumers — including minors — over the dangers its vaping products pose to health.
“The advertisements mislead consumers into believing the products are harmless to health or less harmful compared to other tobacco products,” it said in a statement.
Philip Morris said in a statement it “strongly contests” the decision and would appeal.
AGCM said it had launched an investigation into Philip Morris Italia after a complaint from Italy’s health ministry.
The authority said it found “the expressions and claims ‘smoke-free’, ‘smoke-free products’ and ‘building/planning/accelerating a smoke-free future’, used as part of a wider marketing strategy for its combustion-free tobacco products, mislead consumers — including minors”.
Consumers were lead to believe that the products “are harmless to health and/or less harmful than other tobacco products, particularly traditional cigarettes”, it said.
It stressed that “evidence gathered during the inspections and investigation actually indicates that current scientific and clinical knowledge does not support the claim that these products are less harmful or harmless, not least because of the presence of nicotine”.
Philip Morris contested the claims, saying its campaign “was not a commercial campaign to consumers”, in which it “always provides clear information on risks”, but rather an institutional campaign.
It said that the messages cited by the authority as misleading “are accurate and fully consistent with Italian law and the applicable European Directive, which uses the term “smokeless” to define those tobacco products that do not involve a combustion process”.
The tobacco company accused the autority itself of being misleading, “through a decision that ignores the difference between smoking and smokeless products”, one that could discourage adult smokers from moving away from cigarettes, it said.