Unsmoke as a Sunday Evening Activity

Tonight, just after watching an animation movie with my son and wife, as a Sunday evening activity before sleep, my son asked for a special request: drawing

All he asked for was to draw something that each of us can work on different paper and share with each other when the whole drawing was finalized.

As a father who is not good at drawing figures, I came up with an idea: Unsmoke

Rather than a drawing, it is a little bit writing but at least it has an inspiration.

And here is the product:

Not the best drawing, but probably one of the best messages to the whole world!

For my other unsmoke related posts, please kindly visit:

http://volkanyorulmaz.blogspot.com/2019/04/unsmoke.html

http://volkanyorulmaz.blogspot.com/2019/06/how-i-unsmoked-my-best-friend.html

If you want to learn more about Unsmoke, then you should visit:

https://www.unsmokeyourworld.com

How I Unsmoked My Best Friend

Today, it is not easy to find and trust a person that you can start a close friendship. I have just a few friends like this and I thank God for surrounding me with these trustworthy people.

One of those nice people is Mehmet. I met with Mehmet in 2007. We were both tax assistants in PwC. He was from Ankara and I was from Izmir. Due to the fact that the trainings were held in İstanbul, we shared the same room in the hotel. Since then, we became close friends and shared many things. Despite the distances we have, we always feel close to each other. Time passed by, we had things to laugh and things to cry, the one thing that doesn’t change was sharing the good and the bad experiences. Then first he got married and became a father, and later on I got married and became a father, too. In the holidays and vacations, we got together and enjoyed. The tune that our wives and sons caught was so fine and we became like a big family. People say that good things do not last long. He and his wife had made a decision, and this decision affected their life. One of the changes by Mehmet’s side after this decision was starting to smoke.

I am working for Philip Morris International and my company recently called to action to smokers, nonsmokers, regulators and agents of change across the world to drive a better future for the world’s 1.1 billion smokers and their families, loved ones and communities. Our ambition is to lead the way toward truly global change: It is clear as crystal:

If you don’t smoke, don’t start.

If you smoke, quit.

If you don’t quit, change. That’s unsmoking.

It is a fact that burning generates the vast majority of harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Eliminating the combustion dramatically reduces the levels of harmful chemicals.

As a person I know about the better alternatives that are available to people who continue to smoke and through conversation I inform them about the right thing to do: Unsmoke

Below is a short story of Unsmoke which I touch Mehmet’s life and did something good for him, his life and his loved ones. The original story can also be read from

https://www.pmi.com/media-center/news/my-best-friend's-divorce

What made our story more meaningful is it is published on Best Friend Day which we will celebrate and talk about his smoke free future in the next years of our friendship.

My Best Friend's Divorce

How your soul mate can Unsmoke you when you need it the most

They say you can’t pick your family, but you can choose your friends. And, honestly, that’s a great thing, because who else can really save you when you’re in trouble with your family?

National Best Friends Day falls on June 8, and it’s the perfect moment to show your pal how much they mean to you. 

From heart-to-heart conversations to pulling all-nighters just to enjoy each other’s company, today is the perfect day to celebrate your sidekick. 

Some will opt for a card, others will pick up a silly gift. Most of us will give our chums a shout-out on social media. But Volkan (above, left) went well beyond for his buddy Mehmet (above, right): he unsmoked him.

Their friendship started back in 2007 when they were both tax assistants at a multinational company. They met in front of the hotel room that their manager had assigned them during a training week in Istanbul.

“It took a simple handshake to understand he was special,” Volkan says of Mehmet. They shared stories until the small hours of the morning and told each other their hopes and dreams until they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore.

After that training week, “we kept in touch almost every day, mainly on the phone, as he was based in Ankara, a seven-hour drive from my home town, Izmir,” explains Volkan. Then they both fell in love with two young ladies, got engaged and, finally, married.

“I was his best man, and he was mine,” Volkan recalls. “Mehmet was very much in love with his wife, and they soon had a baby. Then my wife and I had a baby, and we spent every weekend together as a big family, it was a joyous time,” he says.

The two sons were playing soccer together, Volkan’s and Mehmet’s wives were getting along well.

But last winter, Mehmet phoned his best friend, sobbing: things were not going so smooth at his house, and the couple was considering a divorce.

“It was sad, like losing a part of the family,” Volkan observes. And things got worse when Mehmet admitted that, during those lonely nights as his marriage was unraveling, he started smoking. “He started with a few, and then it became a pack a day,” says Volkan.

“It was time to have a chat with him,” adds Volkan . But hard as he tried, he couldn’t convince Mehmet to quit entirely. However, during a business trip, one of Volkan’s colleague talked to Mehmet about smoke-free products. “Then he and I researched it together on the internet and consulted a couple of friends who already used one,” says Volkan.

Mehmet didn’t quit altogether but at least he is no longer smoking cigarettes. “It was a tough time for him, for all of us, but I’m happy because I feel I did something good for my best friend.”

No matter how messy our lives can get, our best buddies are always here to help.

Medium’da Ön Sayfada Olmak

Bir şeyler yazarken aldığım keyif benim için gerçekten çok büyük. Bir de o yazdıklarım birilerine ulaşıyorsa ve dokunuyorsa, işte o da apayrı bir keyif oluyor. Geçtiğimiz haftasonu PMI’ın sürdürülebilirlik raporunu okumuştum. Raporun içindeki Yunanistan örneği hoşuma gidince bunun üzerine bir şeyler yazıp Medium’da paylaşmıştım.

Dün akşam bu içerikle ilgili beni mutlu eden bir mail aldım:

Hi there,

Our curators just read your story, A Sustainable Tobacco Company and its Transformers in Greece, that you submitted for review. Based on its quality, they selected it to be recommended to readers interested in World and Environment across our homepage, app, topic pages, and emails.

You can also view stats for your story here.

Thanks for writing,
Your friends at Medium

Kaleme aldığım yazı Medium’un dünya ve çevre bölümlerinde ana sayfadan yayımlanacağını ilettikleri bu mai sonrasında içeriğin ilgili bölümlerin ön sayfasında olduğunu gördüm. Sonrasında da yüksek okunma sayısını izleyince oldukça mutlu oldum.

Bakalım sonraki içeriklerimde de bu başarıyı elde edebilecek miyim? Ne olursa olsun, keyif almak için yazmaya devam edeceğim.

İlgili içerik için:

http://volkanyorulmaz.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-sustainable-tobacco-company-and-its.html

https://medium.com/p/a-sustainable-tobacco-company-and-its-transformers-in-greece-80e6fe793e19?source=email-f7294ff203a4--writer.postDistributed&sk=2853ef26d07c127e1825c9d23e56b717

What is Unsmoke?

Together We Can Unsmoke the World

This is a bold sentence which I truly believe. Why? Because I did so. You can read how I unsmoked my World just after learning that I would be a father. Here it is:

http://volkanyorulmaz.blogspot.com/2019/04/unsmoke.html

If I did this, everyone can do this. So now is the time to unsmoke!

What is unsmoke? In the video, you can find the definition of #unsmoke. So, how do you define unsmoke? Why don’t you create your own unsmoke story? Time to take action, time to make a change today!

Unsmoke

Today is an important day not only for me but also my company. My own story of unsmoking my home is shared by my company, Philip Morris International, on the day we are starting a new year. Yes, it is not the first day of January but today is the first day of “the Year of Unsmoke”. For those who are not familiar with “unsmoke”, let PMI’s Chief Operating Officer Jacek Olczak define it:

Unsmoke is meant “to enable people to make an informed choice about the better alternatives that are available to them”

In the video below, you may also see PMI’s Senior VP Global Communications Marian Salzman’s description of “Unsmoke”:

With the launch of “The Year of Unsmoke”, Philip Morris International kicked off an urgent call to action to smokers, nonsmokers, regulators and agents of change across the world to drive a better future for the world’s 1.1 billion smokers and their families, loved ones and communities. The World Health Organization predicts that there will still be more than one billion smokers in 2025. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed. As an employee of PMI and as an “unsmoker” who has things to tell in order to unsmoke the world, I shared my own story and it is published on pmi.com. Here it is:

Unsmoke Hero: Volkan Yorulmaz

“I’ve got one son and he’s got one life." For Volkan Yorulmaz, the prospect of fatherhood prompted his decision to unsmoke his life and home.

The Turkish senior tax analyst is one of hundreds of PMI employees to share their stories in our #Unsmoke campaign, which aims to tap into global efforts to rid the world of smoke.

Volkan decided to quit cigarettes and nicotine altogether when he and his wife were expecting their child. Together, they have given up and are not looking back.

“I had been smoking since I finished university,” he says. “I would describe myself as a social smoker, I really only smoked when I was out with friends or having meals. But that changed when I found out I was going to be a parent.”

“My partner and I decided to quit and we told our friends. From that moment on, they would have to smoke outside if they wanted to have a cigarette when they visited.”

For Volkan and his wife, the decision to unsmoke was the easy part. But getting their friends to agree was more of a challenge since they were accustomed to smoking in their living room when they visited.

Volkan says he and his wife want their guests to feel welcome and at ease. So he was apprehensive about telling them they could no longer smoke in their house.

“I was a bit shy when I first told my friends. I didn’t want them to think I was being rude. Fortunately, they understood why we wanted to do it.”

Volkan and his wife decided that as parents, they would ensure their house stayed smoke-free and their friends supported them. This support was valuable for Volkan because his decision to quit was driven by a desire to be around to enjoy every moment of his young son Okan’s life.

“I’ve got one son and he’s got one life. It’s the same for me and my wife. I unsmoked so I could spend every moment of my life with them. I would say, if you smoke you may see an episode of a television show. But if you unsmoke, you will see the whole series.”

This is my own “unsmoke” experience. I know everyone has different reasons, different stories, and behind all these drivers to unsmoke, the core message is:

If you don’t smoke, don’t start
If you smoke, quit
If you don’t quit, change
Unsmoke

PS. It is a great memory for me and my family to see our story shared by PMI’s social media accounts. I know we will look at these screenshots in the coming years and remember these early days of #unsmoke

Pmi.com: https://www.pmi.com/unsmoke/unsmoker-volkan-yorulmaz

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InsidePMI/status/1115222888364355586

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6520988599146684416

The Boss of the World's Largest Cigarette Company: Stop Smoking

Peter Nixon, Managing Director of PMI's UK affiliate Philip Morris Limited, appeared live on Good Morning Britain on 13 March 2019 to talk about the company’s ongoing transformation for a smoke-free future. On National No Smoking Day, he appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain to implore smokers to switch to new heated tobacco products because they are less harmful.

Speaking to co-hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid and medical correspondent Dr. Hilary Jones on the ITV breakfast show, Nixon admitted it would be a big challenge for the company and society at large. He said: “There are a billion smokers in the world. What we’re trying to do is provide alternatives – less harmful alternatives – to those smokers."

Here are the some important highlights from the points he mentioned during the breakfast show:

• People die because of cigarettes and we sell them. I take that very, very seriously. We are part of the problem but we want to be part of the solution. What we're trying to do is give alternatives to smokers.
• I’d love to stop selling cigarettes. But we would go out of business and that wouldn't mean people give up they would just switch to another brand.
• We have been investing in alternative products and I have put all my energy into converting people from the most harmful form of tobacco, which is cigarettes, to less harmful, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.
• “(When it comes to) heated tobacco – we give this product to smokers for one or two weeks for them to try if they’re not sure if it’s going to work or not. We give it for free for a week or two. Eighty per cent stop smoking at the end of that one or two weeks.
• If the smoker switches, it’s better for them, it’s better for society.

Here you can watch the most striking moment of the program: