A full ten years after the court’s devastating takedown of the industry, McKinsey was still trying to help Philip Morris, now called Altria, to sell more cigarettes, according to internal company documents. “We are one team, working side-by-side,” McKinsey said in a business proposal. As a tobacco teammate, McKinsey expressed its “deep commitment” to deliver “a pragmatic, actionable loyalty program that works for Altria”—in other words, a program that rewards customers for buying more of their cigarettes, including the company’s iconic Marlboro brand.
