The story of CIGARETTE.....

Everyone know that smoking is bad for health..But then why so many people still maintain this bad habit although government banned all the cigarette advertisement and increase the tax for the cigarette in the nation?

I don't really know about the cigarette because I am not a smoker. After I involve in cigarette industry, I only know about what is the CIGARETTE. I experience a lot of new things after I work as the Cigarette customer engager. Well, let me explain about my job…

Cigarette customer engager can say is a promoter of the cigarette. I need to promote my cigarette brand to customer in order to engage them to buy it. Of course, I still have my principal as I do not promote to those underage (<18 years old) and non-smoker. As we know that, cigarette and beer promoter job is high paid job in this market compare to those sampling promoter. But then, most of the people do not understand us.

Sometime I feel angry that why those people love to ask why I work as the cigarette customer engager..It is because they feel that our job is encouraging people to smoke. Well, actually I hope I can scold them but in the end I just answer them politely.

He:" Cigarette is bad for health. Why you want to work this job to encourage people smoke more?"

OR

She:" Sekarang kerajaan menjalankan kempen TAKNAK, kamu buat macam nak orang hisap banyak rokok.."  (Government already implements a campaign TAKNAK to discourage people smoke, but then you look like encourage people smoke more...)

How I want to answer with this kind of question? As a “Professional” promoter, I cannot scold or talk something rude to customer because customer is always right. So, I just can answer them as follow:

Me: "erm...sorry sir, we only promote to those smoker. For those non-smoker like YOU, we will not promote." then I smile and walk away..

OR

Me: " Kak, saya hanya kerja part time saja, kalau customer bukan perokok, saya tak akan promote kepada mereka" ( Sis, i only do my responsibility for my job. And I wont promote to those non-smoker)

So, did I doing something bad in this society? My job is not stealing or killing people to get money, I use my effort and time to earn money. Although is not a good job, it is one of the job can give me a high paid. Who will reject the high paid job except those do not love money or too much of money in their life.

For me, I love to explore in different industry. I used to involve in food industry as sampling promoter. I get the extra knowledge from my job. I knew the product range for some famous company. For example: Unilever company, product range in this company include: Dove, Rejoice, Walls, Rexona, Lifebouey and more. P&G Company is one of the famous companies to produce premium product such as SKII, Panteen, OLAY and many more. Maybe a lot of people already knew it earlier; it is a new knowledge for me after I work as promoter to promote the Unilever product. I knew the competitors (Nestle, P&G) product well.

Again, I am not a smoker, but I get a lot of knowledge about cigarette when I work as customer engager. I get the comment and new information from my customer. But then what I can say is different people different taste. Not every cigarette is suit for everyone. We cannot force someone to accept the new flavor for cigarette. Well, let me to share out some comment about the CIGARETTE.
(May be some already knew it, I just want to share what I know from my job)

1. In Malaysia, the top 1 for the cigarette is Dunhill. It is one of the cigarette do not need to hire promoter to promote the cigarette because it has a lot of loyal fan for Dunhill. 

Dunhill is one of the cigarettes under British American Tobacco (BAT), a famous and potential company in in UK. His "brother" and "sister" included Kent, Lucky Strike, Benson & Hedge and Pall Mall in Malaysia.

2. Do you know that Marlboro is the Top 1 cigarette in the world? Yes, absolutely....TOP 1 selling in the world BUT NOT in MALAYSIA!!! It is because BAT is the first company to come to Malaysia market the cigarette before Philip Morris International. 

Marlboro is one of the famous brands under Philip Morris International. It is the naked truth to say that Marlboro is the best selling cigarette outside Malaysia, such as UK and US. The brands under Philip Morris are Marlboro, L&M and Sempoerna (clove cigarette) in Malaysia. Not very people know that Sempoerna is an Indonesia cigarette and it become one of the clove cigarette brand under Philip Morris after 2008.

3.  Japan Tobacco International (JTI)  is Japanese company produce famous Menthol cigarette, Salem and other brand such as Winston, Camel and Mild Seven.

4. Pall Mall- is a brand under British American Tobacco (BAT) outside US nation such as Malaysia. But it is under R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) when selling in US market.

5. Although the tobacco company uses same tobacco to produce the cigarette, the taste for the cigarette is quite different between nations. Let me state one example, the taste for Marlboro cigarette is quite different in Malaysia and US. I got one customer told me that the taste of Marlboro cigarette so much different in Malaysia and Australia especially Marlboro touch.


6. The different of taste for the cigarette may relate to the manufacturing date. A lot of people do not realize that the freshness of cigarette is related to the how long the period between the current and manufacturing date. If it is above 3 or 4 month from the manufacturing date, the taste of cigarette may not be fresh and it taste not so nice. So, it is better to check the manufacture date under the cigarette box before you purchase it.

7. Some customer don like to buy cigarette in type of box. They prefer the soft pack. When I ask why, they will explain to me the taste for soft pack cigarette is different than the box cigarette. For those soft pack lover, they feel that soft pack cigarette taste nice than the box type cigarette. But then the soft pack cigarette already becomes less and less in market. The 14 stick cigarette for soft pack is already banned by government. Therefore, for those soft pack lover have to try to accept the box type cigarette.

 
8. Although government keep increasing the price for the cigarette in order to reduce the number of smoker, the price of cigarette in Malaysia is relatively cheaper compare to other countries such as Singapore.

Do you think it can reduce the number of smoker in Malaysia by increasing the price of cigarette in market? People will stop to smoke when the price increase tremendously? In my opinion, the effect of price will cause the smoker shift to buy illicit cigarette. The number of smoker will reduce but not in greater percentage.

By the way, smoking is bad for health. However, it is not a shame for girls to work as the cigarette promoter. People who will buy the cigarette not because the influence of cigarette promoter, but is about how do they think. If you have a strong mind to refuse to smoke, nobody can force you although it has the gorgeous girl to persuade you.  

.................................................THE END..................................................