Stardate 20010726.0439 (On Screen): The President of Phillip Morris has apologized. Not for killing people, but for the fatuous and now much-reported analysis done by his company for the government of the Czech Republic which tried to prove that tobacco importation resulted in an economic gain for the country. But to prove that, the authors of the study had to include gains from reduced service required by the elderly due to the people killed early by tobacco.
In many ways, this apology is just as fatuous as that analysis was. "The incident has hurt the company's attempts to boost its reputation. It already has spent $100 million annually for positive advertising, donations and shelters for battered women to persuade the public it has changed its ways." But it hasn't changed its ways: it's still selling an addictive drug which kills huge numbers of people, isn't it? (discuss)
Update: Of course, none of that matters. All that matters is profit, right?
