Philip Morris

Philip Morris is an eponymous cigarette brand with roots in the nineteenth-century London tobacco trade. The business associated with Philip Morris began with a tobacconist shop and cigarette-making operation established by Philip Morris in 1847. The brand was later developed through family ownership, corporate reorganization, licensing, and international expansion. It should be distinguished from Philip Morris International, the publicly traded tobacco company that owns and markets the brand in many countries, and from Philip Morris USA, the Altria subsidiary responsible for the U.S. market. The Philip Morris name entered the United States in 1847 through imported English-made cigarettes. A New York company was incorporated in 1902, but for many years production was conducted under license by the Stephano Brothers of Philadelphia. The company acquired its first cigarette factory, in Richmond, Virginia, in 1929. This helped move the brand from an imported and licensed product toward a vertically integrated American manufacturing operation. One of the brand’s best-documented product developments was Philip Morris English Blend, introduced in the United States in 1933 as a non-filter, regular-size cigarette. In 1948, its name was changed to Philip Morris Special Blend. The brand became particularly associated with the advertising personality Johnny Roventini, a diminutive bellboy whose shouted line, “Call for Philip Morris!”, became a recurring radio, television, and print signature from the 1930s through the 1950s. The campaign made Roventini, sometimes called Johnny Philip Morris, a distinctive living symbol of the product. Philip Morris also benefited from the close relationship between cigarette advertising and popular entertainment in the mid-twentieth century. The brand sponsored CBS’s I Love Lucy, and early broadcasts prominently connected the program’s presentation with Philip Morris cigarette packaging. Its other historical slogan, “Have a Commander, welcome aboard,” reflected a more situational and hospitality-oriented advertising style. The brand’s corporate setting changed substantially during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Philip Morris Companies expanded beyond tobacco into food businesses, including General Foods, Kraft, and Nabisco-related operations, before the corporate group was renamed Altria in 2001. Altria separated its international tobacco operations as Philip Morris International in 2008. Consequently, the Philip Morris cigarette brand now sits within a split operating structure: PMI manufactures and sells it outside the United States, while Philip Morris USA manages the domestic business. Philip Morris remains a combustible tobacco product and is subject to extensive health warnings, advertising restrictions, taxation, and smoke-free laws. Cigarette smoke contains carcinogenic substances, and tobacco smoking is a major cause of preventable disease and death. The brand therefore occupies a contested position: it has substantial historical and commercial significance, but its products are associated with serious health risks and continuing public-health criticism. PMI’s broader strategy has shifted toward heated tobacco, nicotine pouches, and other smoke-free products, yet the Philip Morris cigarette brand remains part of its combustible portfolio in markets where it is sold.

The Philip Morris name developed from Philip Morris’s London tobacco shop, established in 1847. The original business made and sold tobacco products in London, later becoming associated with manufactured cigarettes and expanding beyond its local market. After Philip Morris’s death, his widow Margaret and his brother Leopold continued the trade. Leopold subsequently consolidated the business and entered partnerships that helped establish a more formal corporate enterprise. The company’s American history began with the importation of English-made Philip Morris cigarettes. Gustav Eckmeyer acted as a U.S. agent from the nineteenth century, and a New York affiliate was incorporated in 1902. Until the purchase of a Richmond, Virginia, cigarette factory in 1929, Philip Morris brands in the United States were produced under license by the Stephano Brothers of Philadelphia. The Richmond facility gave the business a domestic manufacturing base and supported wider distribution. Philip Morris English Blend appeared in 1933 as a non-filter, 70-millimeter cigarette. Its name changed to Philip Morris Special Blend in 1948. The product’s advertising history is unusually well documented. Johnny Roventini, a three-foot-eleven bellboy, became the brand’s long-running spokesman and delivered the exclamation “Call for Philip Morris!” across radio, television, and print. During the 1950s, Philip Morris also sponsored I Love Lucy on CBS, linking cigarette promotion to one of the era’s most popular television programs. Through the twentieth century, the wider Philip Morris organization expanded into both tobacco and food. It acquired major food businesses, including General Foods and later interests associated with Kraft and Nabisco, while continuing to build its cigarette operations. In 2001, Philip Morris Companies changed its corporate name to Altria Group. Altria later separated its international tobacco business, and Philip Morris International began independent trading in 2008. Altria retained Philip Morris USA, creating the current geographic division in which PMI handles the brand internationally and PM USA handles it in the United States. The brand’s modern context is shaped by declining cigarette consumption in many markets, tighter regulation, litigation, taxation, and public-health opposition. Cigarettes are classified as carcinogenic products because tobacco smoke contains multiple harmful and carcinogenic constituents. PMI has invested heavily in heated tobacco and oral nicotine products, including IQOS and products acquired through Swedish Match, as part of a stated smoke-free strategy. Those developments do not eliminate the Philip Morris cigarette brand: combustible cigarettes continue to be sold in selected markets, but they now form part of a portfolio whose corporate direction increasingly emphasizes alternatives to smoking.

• 2008

  International business separates from Altria

  [5]International business separates from Altriaen.wikipedia.org

  Philip Morris International became independently traded, while Altria retained Philip Morris USA and the U.S. cigarette business.

• 1950

  I Love Lucy sponsorship period

  [1]Philip Morris (cigarette)en.wikipedia.org

  Philip Morris sponsored CBS’s I Love Lucy, integrating the brand into the program’s original broadcast presentation.

• 1948

  English Blend renamed Special Blend

  [1]Philip Morris (cigarette)en.wikipedia.org

  The English Blend name was changed to Philip Morris Special Blend.

• 1933

  English Blend introduced

  [1]Philip Morris (cigarette)en.wikipedia.org

  Philip Morris USA introduced Philip Morris English Blend as a non-filter, regular-size cigarette.

• 1929

  First Philip Morris cigarette factory acquired

  [1]Philip Morris (cigarette)en.wikipedia.org

  The company purchased its first cigarette factory, in Richmond, Virginia, after years of licensed production in the United States.

• 1902

  New York affiliate incorporated

  [1]Philip Morris (cigarette)en.wikipedia.org

  A U.S. Philip Morris company was incorporated in New York, formalizing the brand’s transatlantic commercial presence.

• 1847

  Philip Morris tobacco business begins in London

  [2]About PM USAphilipmorrisusa.com

  Philip Morris’s family opened a London tobacco shop and began making and selling tobacco products, establishing the origin of the eponymous brand.

A heritage cigarette brand built around English tobacco origins, recognizable mass-market advertising, and a traditional combustible-tobacco identity.

• Cigarette · 1933

  Philip Morris English Blend

  Introduced in the United States in 1933, English Blend was a non-filter, regular-size cigarette positioned as a traditional tobacco product. Its marketing relied heavily on Philip Morris’s recognizable brand identity and the Johnny Roventini advertising character. The name was later changed to Philip Morris Special Blend.

• Cigarette · 1948

  Philip Morris Special Blend

  Special Blend was the renamed form of Philip Morris English Blend after 1948. It represents the brand’s established American combustible-cigarette line and belongs to the historical product range associated with the Philip Morris name.

• 2012

  European cigarette-smuggling settlement involving Philip Morris International

  Philip Morris International reached a settlement with the European Community concerning allegations related to cigarette smuggling and illicit trade. The matter concerned the wider company rather than a single Philip Morris product variant.

  Source

Read more

• 1950I Love Lucy sponsorship

  United States

  Philip Morris sponsored the original CBS broadcasts of I Love Lucy, with cigarette-pack imagery and brand presentation incorporated into the program’s early credits and sponsorship format.

  Outcome. The sponsorship connected Philip Morris with a major American television hit and illustrates the period’s close relationship between tobacco advertising and entertainment programming.

  Source
• 1933Call for Philip Morris!

  United States

  Philip Morris used Johnny Roventini, a famously short bellboy, as a recurring spokesman who shouted the brand’s signature advertising line in radio, television, and print placements.

  Outcome. The campaign made Roventini a highly recognizable symbol of Philip Morris and helped establish one of the brand’s best-known historical slogans.

  Source

• 2021

  Accelerate the transition toward smoke-free productsStrategy

  Background

  Declining cigarette consumption and increasing regulation encouraged PMI to reposition its business around alternatives for adults who would otherwise continue smoking.

  Action taken

  PMI leadership committed to increasing the pace of development and commercialization of heated tobacco, oral nicotine, and other alternatives.

  Aftermath

  The traditional Philip Morris cigarette remained in the portfolio, but corporate investment and communications increasingly emphasized products positioned as alternatives to combustible cigarettes.

  Source

• 2008

  Separate international tobacco operations from AltriaStrategy

  Background

  Altria reorganized its portfolio to separate its international tobacco operations from the U.S. tobacco business.

  Action taken

  Philip Morris International was spun off as an independent publicly traded company, while Philip Morris USA remained with Altria.

  Aftermath

  The Philip Morris brand acquired a divided operating structure: PMI became responsible for most international markets and Altria’s PM USA remained responsible for the United States.

  Source

1. 1Philip Morris (cigarette)en.wikipedia.org
2. 2About PM USAphilipmorrisusa.com
3. 3Philip Morris International board and corporate governancepmi.com
4. 4Philip Morris International 2024 Annual Reportsec.gov
5. 5International business separates from Altriaen.wikipedia.org
6. 6Accelerate the transition toward smoke-free productspmi.com
7. 7European cigarette-smuggling settlement involving Philip Morris Internationalhistoryoasis.com