Have you ever really inspected the packaging of Marlboro cigarettes?
A black friend of mine recently pointed out why he refuses to buy any product from Philip Morris. He showed me (on a hard pack of regulars) that there are three and exactly three large red K’s on the box. Seeing as he had to tilt the box 90 degrees to show me, I was VERY skeptical at this point (they looked more like stylized chevrons to me). But. . .then he asked me to look closely between the lion’s legs at the outline. Sure enough, it resembled two KKK clansmen holding the “Marlboro” banner!
Now is this like the face on Mars or the REAL DEAL?
Yeah, that’s the way to secretly fund an odious organization - print your calling card all over the product.
I’ve come to the conclusion that these sort of “products secretly backed by” theories are hatched by people who believe criminals actually leave rhymes, clues and other hints for the police to make it “more sporting” (ala Batman’s The Riddler).
Seriously, people! Proctor & Gamble is not a satinist cult, Snapple does promote the slave trade and I sincerely doubt that Marlboro is backing the KKK. Granted, these are Big, Evil Corporations, but they want your money, not your soul. There’s no profit margin in alienating your customers.
That being said, I don’t doubt that someone, somewhere is funneling corporate money into hate groups, but you and I don’t know about and we probably ever will.
O.K. a couple of simple opinions, but no facts - has anyone even examined the damn packaging?
It doesn’t matter which organization is older - what I want to know is if there is a blatant connection between Philip Morris & the KKK apparant on their packaging.
Please look at the cigarette label and THEN reply. I’m interested to know what everyone thinks - I already know that you’re all skeptical.
ZULU - thanks for the link. Not much actual info there though. I’m sure the company would deny any association with the KKK. And they don’t even address the two clansmen (or pseudoclansmen) on the front.
I’m sorry, I thought you wanted facts, not opinions.
Then why would they be stupid enough to print 3 big red K’s on their product? And print a picture of two klansmen? (Which I don’t think look anything like klansmen at all)
Why would a company risk losing so many consumers by advertising a connection to a hate group? It would a vastly idiotic move. It goes against all business sense. If they were connected in any way (which I think is doubtful) I’m sure they would keep it as secretive as possible. They wouldn’t want something as explosive at that getting out, so there’s no way they would print anything so incriminating on a package.
In short, I think that there is no way that Philip Morris is connected to the Ku Klux Klan.
OK, I looked at the package. The negative space between the animals’ legs can be interpreted as two white figures holding a banner - if the drugs you’re using are good enough. I find it very hard to believe the KKK would be involved with anything that subtle. I think they all smoke Burning Kross brand cigarettes.
It doesn’t? Pretty amazing, those advertising guys - putting secret symbols in their logos that actually predict the rise of an organization. In another country, yet.
Zulu makes excellent points.
PM is a huge company with a huge number of workers. A story like this, if true, could not survive without a leak for very long.
Every news reporter and news organization in North America would kill to get concrete information on something like this.
To date I haven’t seen Ted Koppel covering it.
If Phillip Morris can be faulted for failing to address this question, please note that they are failing to address a lot of questions right now.
I bet they wish the only controversy surrounding their products was a simple as a KKK connection.
I don’t think there’s any CONNECTION between Philip Morris and the KKK, but certainly P.M. is by far the more evil of the two organizations.
How many people have actually been killed by the Klan? A few hundred, maybe even a couple of thousand, over the last 100 years? Child’s play! Philip Morris kills that many people every month.
Besides, you could argue that the Klan acts out of genuinely-held beliefs, as twisted and sick as they may be. Philip Morris kills people solely for money, which in my opinion is far worse.
So please, don’t insult the Klan by associating them with Philip Morris!
Please look at the cigarette label and THEN reply. I’m interested to know what everyone thinks - I already know that you’re all skeptical.
Do we have to keep going with this until we agree with you?
As for those of you who vigorously deny that companies are not involved with the KKK, Satanic cults, UFOs, etc… well, that’s what they want you to believe
On the other hand, if people stop smoking becuase of conspiracy theories, well, maybe that’s not altogether a bad thing. End justifies this means in this case.
“It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument” - William McAdoo
They also say that if you stare long enough at any textured surface (tile, carpet) you can see stereogram in it.
So, if you stare long enough, and want to believe hard enough, and say “I DO believe in faeries,” then, sure, you can imagine that the red triangles framing the Marlboro package are meant to represent the letter K. I personally lost the desire to try by the age of 15, though.
