Tucker Carlson, for years, has talked up the Zyn nicotine pouch to whoever would listen. Now, however, he is renouncing the brand and says he plans to launch a competing product called Alp.
The fallout between the media personality and the tobacco product comes down, predictably, to politics. Carlson is upset that employees at Zyn’s parent company Philip Morris donated money to Kamala Harris. He told The Wall Street Journal that he now thinks Zyn is a “ladies brand” and “not a brand for men”.
That’s a big reversal for Carlson, who just last October said on a podcast “The truth is, Zyn is a powerful work enhancer, and also a male enhancer—if you know what I mean.”
Carlson’s team reached out to Philip Morris to inquire about a partnership. The company declined and cited those comments, saying that even if they were made in jest “given Mr. Carlson’s popularity and reach, these statements could promote a misunderstanding and misuse of our products.”
That lit the fuse.
“They have nothing in common with their consumers,” Carlson told the WSJ. “I thought: ‘I’m going to launch my own product that’s not controlled by, you know, humorless, left-wing drones.’”
Alp, Tucker’s competing product, will come in four flavors and three strengths, including one that is 33% stronger than Zyn’s most powerful product. They will go on sale this November. “The all-new nicotine pouch by Tucker Carlson. ALP satisfies and frees your mind. At ALP, we believe in a better time,” reads the website promoting the brand, which is based in Miami.
Philip Morris itself does not make political contributions to any presidential candidates, it says. The subsidiary that oversees Zyn, however, does run a political action committee, which has given to both Republican and Democratic campaigns, with 70% of donations were to Republicans.