Hacker News Reader

> They have some brilliant marketing people working for them.

FWIW I hate people like that. If that's the best you can do with your creativity then you're no better than a scientist that works on chemical weapons.

View on HN

I think the problem is more complex here, as these are usually not in-house marketing people who have willingly chosen to market cigarettes, but rather people working for external marketing agencies for whom promoting Philip Morris' products is just one of many projects imposed on them. They haven't really chosen to market tobacco, but would probably have a hard time objecting to this one particular project, if they otherwise like the job.

If marketing tobacco products isn't where one draws the line, where would the line be drawn? We must not give a pass to people who work on bad things simply because their boss told them to do so.

... or worse biological weapons. If we don't want very smart people working on things like this then total moral condemnation is the way to go.

then total moral condemnation is the way to go

Indeed. If people understood that with Phillip Morris or Facebook on their CVs they would be unemployable afterwards, they might think twice.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com