Dot What?

May 25, 2007, 4:30 pm; posted by
Filed under Articles, Josh J  | No Comments

On this, the day before his brother’s wedding, we present a post from the Best of Josh, originally published on November 2, 2006.

The other day I met a charming young lady who needed some information from me. She gave me her email address which ended with @pmusa.com. I had never seen that particular suffix before, and I was curious, so I asked.

“Phillip Morris. I work for Marlboro.”

Whoa.

“Yeah, we’re not the most popular company right now.”

Now let me be clear about a few things here. First off, I think smoking is terrible, for all the obvious reasons. And I could never work for a such a company because I wouldn’t be able to reconcile this with my convictions.

Having said that, I think the lawsuits against these companies are laughable. I also don’t think people who work for these companies are any more morally responsible than the corner store clerk that sells the cigarrettes, and we don’t vilify them.

But the fact remains that these companies have taken a huge PR hit. There are some pretty aggressive ad campaigns with them in the crosshairs (although I really enjoy the Phillip Morris-produced anti-tobacco ads. They’re almost as funny as the comercials that come on during televised poker where some casino guy tells you, “There are some times when you shouldn’t gamble.” Yeah, right.). The executives have been portrayed as outright murderous pariahs, and justifiably so in many cases.

I don’t say all this to bash the woman in question. She seems like a nice enough person. I’m just saying that if I had to give my email to a total stranger for non-work related matters, I think I would have a back-up. Something that didn’t sound like josh@Ikillpeople.com.


Comments

Leave a comment!