How CVS Placed Mission > Money

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking cigarettes. As the leading cause of preventable death in the US, smoking kills 480,000 Americans every year, 41,000 of which are caused by secondhand smoke exposure.

Newsflash: Tobacco companies do not care and have no interest in slowing sales or advertising. In 2017 alone, $9.36 billion was spent on advertising and promotion of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco combined—more than $25 million every day, and more than $1 million every hour.

As you can imagine, tobacco is a huge seller for some of the nation's top retailers. While some have gotten positive press recently for eliminating e-cigarettes from their shelves, tobacco still brings in billions and billions of dollars in yearly revenue. This was the case for CVS, and in 2014 their executive team decided to do something about it.

CVS Health decided that their mission to "improve the lives of those we serve" did not align with selling tobacco products, and stopped selling them nationwide- forgoing $2 billion in sales. Less than 3 years later, the American Journal of Public Health found that tobacco sales across all retail channels in the US had declined.

This is a great example of a company living out their values. It shows that we CAN make a difference if we are willing to act, and we at Lysi US applaud their courageous decision!