Saturday, August 22, 2009

Nicorette Announces New Products

Nicorette has a few more products announced to aid smokers in their attempt to quit. Nicorette has been selling mint flavored gum to ease smokers off of the nicotine they have been receiving from cigarettes for years. As smoking laws tighten pushing smokers out of workplaces, homes, and restaurants more and more smokers are looking to quit. It has become an expensive inconvenience. One that Nicorette plans to cash in on.

Among the top reasons to quit smoking heath concern and peer-pressure consistently rank near the top. The peer pressure aspect can help as this can provide the smoker with support but it can also backfire. “I have tried to quit dozens of times with no success,” stated Missouri smoker Jeff Adams. “My friends have heard me claim that I would not be buying any more packs so many times that they have kind of given up on me. Now whenever I try to quit I don’t want to let them down. It kind of stresses me out….so I light up.”

Nicorette has plans to help smokers like Jeff. They will be introducing a seventh flavor of their gum: Cigarette. The idea is that while they are reducing the nicotine in their system the customer’s friends, family, and co-workers would be unaware of the change. In tandem with this release Nicorette will release their first cigarette-type product. It will essentially be just the shell without any of the addictive properties. However, as this item will need to be smoked it still is not the best health decision. Nicorette executives argue that if smoking their Nico-Ciggarettes for 12 – 20 weeks can lead to the customer to stop smoking all together that it is worth it, as they are, “no any worse than the regular ones.” When using the two items together nobody will be aware that you are even trying to quit. Although some friends will be a little off put by your sudden resistance to let them “bum a cig.” Nicorette goes so far for the customer that they will even charge the same rate for the Nico-Ciggarettes that the tobacco companies are charging for theirs so that others don’t suddenly become aware of the increase in spending money. Of course the math doesn’t really work out since the customer will be buying the gum as well. Also the name Nico-Ciggarettes is somewhat misleading as there is no nicotine in the product. Must be a poorly thought-out branding move…

After a few months on the products the addiction to nicotine should be over and the two items can be dropped. But Nicorette is releasing one more product and this is the one that has shareholders really exciting. It’s a cigarette flavored gum. Really it is a cigarette scented gum the taste is closer to mint, a bad mint. There is no nicotine in the gum it is just a standard chewing gum. The demand for this product is expected to come from former smokers that are not willing to give up their daily smoke breaks. “I stopped smoking and then realized that I was working at my desk for an additional hour or so a day. And that time really starts to add up,” exclaimed one Nebraskan female that did not wish to be identified. This new product would allow individuals just like Susan McCoy to continue to harvest the benefits of being a smoker without any of the drawbacks. People that have never smoked are even expected to give the product a whirl. If it really hits big those Nico-Ciggarettes may even start selling to this segment.

For those that are on a tighter budget though smoking may make more sense as it will be considerably less expensive in the short term.

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