Murray H. Bring, a senior Philip Morris lawyer, said the industry had nothing to apologize for. “We know that we are manufacturing a lawful product,” Bring said. “We also know that we are honorable and honest people.” Geoffrey Bible, a senior Philip Morris executive, cautioned against banning cigarettes, using words not likely to end up in a McKinsey slide:

What do you think smokers would do if they didn’t smoke? You get some pleasure from it, and you get some other beneficial things, such as stress relief. Nobody knows what you’d turn to if you didn’t smoke. Maybe you’d beat your wife. Maybe you’d drive cars fast. Who knows what the hell you’d do.

McKinsey also consulted for a group widely viewed as a tobacco industry front group—the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. Founded in September 2017, the nonprofit organization asserted that its goal was to reduce deaths and disease from smoking while assuring potential donors that its board was independent with no ties to the tobacco industry. That statement was noteworthy for what it did not say—that Philip Morris International started the group with donations of $8.4 million. Of that, more than $400,000 went to McKinsey. PMI was the group’s sole donor, and McKinsey was the sole consultant.