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Marshman B, Wolf K, McCausland K, Daube M, Jancey J. Tobacco companies, corporate social responsibility and the use of third-party awards: a framing analysis. Tob Control 2023:tc-2022-057854. [PMID: 37369562 DOI: 10.1136/tc-2022-057854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Corporate social responsibility activities, such as third-party awards, provide an opportunity for tobacco companies (TCs) to promote themselves as socially, economically and environmentally responsible organisations. This study aimed to determine how TCs are using third-party awards to frame themselves and their core activities via company-controlled communication channels. METHODS TC-owned media coverage promoting third-party awards was identified from company-owned media channels, including websites, reports, press releases and Twitter. Using framing theory and thematic analysis, frames and broader themes were identified using a process of inductive coding. RESULTS TC-produced media content promoting third-party awards framed the companies as socially and environmentally responsible organisations, which excel at business and are innovative and transformative. Dominant frames identified included excellent workplace culture, championing diversity and inclusion and action on the environment. CONCLUSION TCs are capitalising on the perceived credibility and objectivity of third-party awards using these 'honours' as a promotional strategy to justify their continuing role in society and enhance their perceived legitimacy in relation to claims of ethical and responsible behaviour. The results of this study have implications for tobacco control advocacy, as continuing to allow the promotion of these awards appears to contravene or conflict with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Briony Marshman
- School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Katharina Wolf
- School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Kahlia McCausland
- Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health, School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Mike Daube
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Jonine Jancey
- Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health, School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
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2
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Peruga A, López MJ, Martinez C, Fernández E. Tobacco control policies in the 21st century: achievements and open challenges. Mol Oncol 2021; 15:744-752. [PMID: 33533185 PMCID: PMC7931122 DOI: 10.1002/1878-0261.12918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including cancer, are responsible for almost 70% of all deaths worldwide. Tobacco use is a risk factor common to most NCDs. This article discusses tobacco control policies and highlights major achievements and open challenges to reduce smoking prevalence and attributable morbidity and mortality in the 21st century. The introduction of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005 has been a key achievement in the field and has already facilitated a drop in both smoking prevalence and exposure to secondhand smoke. Indicatively, the size of the worldwide population benefiting from at least one cost‐effective tobacco control policy has quadrupled since 2007. In addition, plain cigarette packaging has been successfully introduced as a tobacco control policy, surmounting efforts of the tobacco industry to challenge this based on trade and investment law. Nevertheless, tobacco control still faces major challenges. Smoking prevalence needs to be further reduced in a rather expedited manner. Smoke‐free environments should be extended, and the use of plain tobacco packaging with large pictorial health warnings for all tobacco products should be further promoted in some parts of the world. Some of these measures will require prompt determination and diligence. For example, bold political decisions are needed to significantly increase real prices of tobacco products through excise taxes, ban added ingredients that are currently used to increase the attractiveness of tobacco products and ban the tobacco industry's corporate social responsibility initiatives. Finally, the debate on harm reduction strategies for tobacco control still needs to be resolved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Armando Peruga
- Tobacco Control Research Group, Epidemiology and Public Health Research Programme, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.,Consortium of Centers for Biomedical Research on Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), Madrid, Spain.,Center for Epidemiology and Health Policies, Clínica Alemana School of Medicine, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - María José López
- Evaluation and Intervention Methods Service, Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Spain.,Consortium of Centers for Biomedical Research on Epidemiology and Public Health, CIBERESP, Madrid, Spain.,Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cristina Martinez
- Tobacco Control Research Group, Epidemiology and Public Health Research Programme, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.,Consortium of Centers for Biomedical Research on Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), Madrid, Spain.,Tobacco Control Unit, WHO Collaborating Center on Tobacco Control, Institut Català d'Oncologia-ICO, Barcelona, Spain.,School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Campus of Bellvitge, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
| | - Esteve Fernández
- Tobacco Control Research Group, Epidemiology and Public Health Research Programme, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.,Consortium of Centers for Biomedical Research on Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), Madrid, Spain.,Tobacco Control Unit, WHO Collaborating Center on Tobacco Control, Institut Català d'Oncologia-ICO, Barcelona, Spain.,School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Campus of Bellvitge, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
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3
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Nana RKHM, Beddewela E. The politics of corporate social responsibility in the mining industry in Burkina Faso. AFRICA JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/23322373.2019.1676099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Eshani Beddewela
- Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, United Kingdom
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4
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Fang J, Yang G, Wan X. 'Pro-tobacco propaganda': a case study of tobacco industry-sponsored elementary schools in China. Tob Control 2019; 29:447-451. [PMID: 31302606 PMCID: PMC7361027 DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2018] [Revised: 05/14/2019] [Accepted: 05/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Background China is the largest producer and consumer of tobacco products worldwide. While direct marketing and advertisement of tobacco products is restricted, indirect marketing still exists under the guise of sponsorship and corporate social responsibility (CSR). This case study is focused on tobacco industry-sponsored elementary schools in Chinese rural areas. Methods Field visits were conducted in Yunnan province to interview students, teachers, school principals and parents to understand their perceptions of the tobacco industry and its sponsorship of schools. Interviews with tobacco control activists were conducted in Beijing to discuss national tobacco control efforts targeting tobacco industry sponsorship. Interview data were transcribed and coded, with key themes developed using thematic analysis. Results While health consequences of smoking are generally known, attitudes towards the tobacco industry and its CSR activities remain positive among the general public. Educators and parents do not perceive any impacts on schoolchildren from exposure to ‘pro-tobacco propaganda’ created by the industry’s CSR activities. Attitudes among tobacco control activists were drastically different, with consensus that CSR activities constitute indirect marketing attempts that should be banned. Conclusion National tobacco control legislation banning all forms of indirect marketing including CSR is needed in order to protect the health of future generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Fang
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Gonghuan Yang
- Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - Xia Wan
- Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
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5
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Bialous SA, Glantz SA. Heated tobacco products: another tobacco industry global strategy to slow progress in tobacco control. Tob Control 2018; 27:s111-s117. [PMID: 30209207 PMCID: PMC6202178 DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2018] [Revised: 06/18/2018] [Accepted: 06/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
There has been a global decline in tobacco consumption that, if continued, will negatively impact the tobacco industry's profits. This decline led the industry to invent and market new products, including heated tobacco products (HTP). HTP are an extension of the industry's strategies to undermine government's tobacco regulatory efforts as they are being promoted as part of the solution for the tobacco epidemic. Under the moniker of 'harm reduction', the tobacco companies are attempting to rehabilitate their reputation so they can more effectively influence governments to roll back existing tobacco control policies or create exemptions for their HTP. Rolling back tobacco control policies will make it easier for the companies to renormalise tobacco use to increase social acceptability for all their products. When regulations are absent or when loopholes exist in classifying HTP as a tobacco product (thus subject to all tobacco control regulations), the industry's marketing of HTP is making these products more visible to the public and more accessible. Governments need to ensure that HTP are regulated as tobacco products or drugs and reject partnerships with the tobacco companies to promote 'harm reduction'. The tobacco companies remain the vector of the tobacco-caused epidemic and cannot be part of the global tobacco control solution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stella A Bialous
- Center for Tobacco Control, UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA
- Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing UCSF, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Stanton A Glantz
- Division of Cardiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
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6
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Hancock L, Ralph N, Martino FP. Applying Corporate Political Activity (CPA) analysis to Australian gambling industry submissions against regulation of television sports betting advertising. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0205654. [PMID: 30325957 PMCID: PMC6191115 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2017] [Accepted: 09/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Aims This research aimed to assess the application to the gambling industry, of Corporate Political Activity (CPA) analysis previously developed from public health research on tobacco industry interactions with political institutions and previously applied to the alcohol industry, but not the gambling industry. Background A growing body of literature has confirmed how public interest outcomes are frequently opposed by vested interests. This research focused on gambling industry submissions to a 2013 Australian Parliamentary inquiry into sports betting advertising. Gambling advertising became highly controversial following deregulation of sports betting advertising in Australia subsequent to the 2008 Australian High Court Betfair challenge. The dramatic increase in gambling advertising during sporting event broadcasts at children’s viewing times and on new interactive technology, sparked public concerns. A series of national regulatory reviews followed and the gambling industry was actively involved in opposing further regulation. Method The research used a corporate political activity (CPA) framework of analysis developed by UK tobacco public health researchers, which identified strategies and tactics used internationally by the tobacco industry, to broker pro-tobacco public policy outcomes. Testing the application of this CPA framework to gambling pro-industry strategies/tactics, this research focused on gambling industry submissions to the 2013 Australian Parliamentary Committee Inquiry. Results Like the tobacco industry, the research found the gambling industry used identified strategies and tactics, some new tactics and a new strategy of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, promoting ‘responsible’ industry practices and pre-emptive establishment of internal ‘responsibility’ units/practices. Despite public concerns regarding sports betting advertising, the gambling industry reinforced individual choice/blame for harms and claimed it acted responsibly. It did this using strategies identified in the tobacco industry CPA framework: information strategy (and shaping the evidence base); financial incentive strategy; constituency building strategy; policy substitution strategy; legal strategy; and constituency fragmentation and destabilization strategy. Conclusion Similar to the CPA analysis applied to tobacco and alcohol industries, the research demonstrated the usefulness of the CPA taxonomy for analyzing and documenting pre-emptive industry policy strategies and tactics, exposing gambling industry efforts to maintain industry self-regulation via voluntary codes and avoid more government regulation. Cross-sectoral application of the framework signals great potential for use of CPA by policymakers and public health advocates as a tool in the analysis of corporate industry arguments/discourses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Hancock
- Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADICG), Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Natalie Ralph
- Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADICG), Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Elias J, Dutra LM, St Helen G, Ling PM. Revolution or redux? Assessing IQOS through a precursor product. Tob Control 2018; 27:s102-s110. [PMID: 30305324 PMCID: PMC6238084 DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2018] [Revised: 07/06/2018] [Accepted: 08/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Background Philip Morris International (PMI) currently claims that its heated tobacco product, IQOS, reduces health risk by reducing users’ exposure to harmful and potentially harmful constituents present in tobacco smoke. Given the tobacco industry’s long history of misrepresenting and obfuscating research, independent assessment of PMI’s claims is important. Analysis of Accord, a failed but strikingly similar precursor to IQOS, may help contextualise PMI’s claims in its Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) application. Methods We analysed previously secret internal Philip Morris (PM) and PMI documents, public communications and MRTP application. Results PM marketed Accord as a ‘cleaner’ tobacco product in an attempt to address smokers’ growing health concerns without making explicit health claims. While PM communications asserted that Accord reduced users’ exposure to harmful constituents, company scientists and executives consistently stressed to both regulators and the public that such reductions did not render Accord safer. IQOS’s design and marketing are similar to Accord’s. On the basis of aerosol chemistry data, IQOS reduces user exposure to some compounds compared with Accord but raises them for others. Discussion IQOS appears to be a variant of Accord without consistent improvements in exposure to aerosol toxic compounds. In contrast to PM’s past claims for Accord, PMI now claims in its MRTP application that IQOS reduces health risk. This shift in stance is likely not the result of any toxicological difference between Accord and IQOS, but rather a change in the social and regulatory landscape permitting these claims.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesse Elias
- Center for Tobacco Control Research and Educaion, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Lauren M Dutra
- Center for Tobacco Control Research and Educaion, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.,Center for Health Policy Science and Tobacco Research, RTI International, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Gideon St Helen
- Center for Tobacco Control Research and Educaion, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.,UCSF Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Pamela M Ling
- Center for Tobacco Control Research and Educaion, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.,UCSF Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA
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8
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MacKenzie R. "An example for corporate social responsibility": British American Tobacco's response to criticism of its Myanmar subsidiary, 1999-2003. ASIA & THE PACIFIC POLICY STUDIES 2018; 5:298-312. [PMID: 29938111 PMCID: PMC6001444 DOI: 10.1002/app5.242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2017] [Revised: 01/07/2018] [Accepted: 03/31/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
In 2013, British American Tobacco (BAT) returned to Myanmar a decade after it had left the country under pressure from civil society, international organizations, and the government of the United Kingdom. The company's involvement in a joint venture with an investment branch of the country's military government between 1999 and 2003 resulted in intense scrutiny and criticism based on the military's record of human rights abuses. BAT argued that corporations could not be held accountable for actions of governments in countries in which it operated, and that its presence in Myanmar contributed to economic and social development. It also maintained that its Myanmar subsidiary provided a model of responsible business conduct. The controversy that surrounded BAT's Myanmar subsidiary between 1999 and 2003 has increasing relevance to the current situation in Myanmar, and potential implications for foreign corporations operating in the country.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ross MacKenzie
- Faculty of Human SciencesMacquarie UniversitySydneyNew South Wales2109Australia
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9
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van der Eijk Y, Bialous SA, Glantz S. The Tobacco Industry and Children's Rights. Pediatrics 2018; 141:peds.2017-4106. [PMID: 29712762 PMCID: PMC5914496 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2017-4106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The manufacture, use, and marketing of tobacco present a serious threat to children's right to health. This makes the Convention on the Rights of the Child a potentially powerful tobacco-control tool and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which oversees the convention's implementation, a potential leader in tobacco control. UNICEF actively supported tobacco control initiatives in the late 1990s, but since the early 2000s UNICEF's role in tobacco control has been minimal. Using the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents library, an online collection of previously secret tobacco industry documents, we sought to uncover information on the tobacco industry's ties with UNICEF. We found that from 1997 to 2000, when UNICEF was actively promoting tobacco control to support children's rights, the tobacco industry saw children's rights and UNICEF as potentially powerful threats to business that needed to be closely monitored and neutralized. The industry then positioned itself as a partner with UNICEF on youth smoking prevention initiatives as a way to avoid meaningful tobacco control measures that could save children's lives. After UNICEF's corporate engagement guidelines were loosened in 2003, tobacco companies successfully engaged with UNICEF directly and via front groups, including the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation. This was part of an overall tobacco industry strategy to improve its corporate image, infiltrate the United Nations, and weaken global tobacco-control efforts. As part of its mission to protect children's rights, UNICEF should end all partnerships with the tobacco industry and its front groups.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stella A. Bialous
- Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education,,Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, and
| | - Stanton Glantz
- Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, .,Department of Medicine (Cardiology), Cardiovascular Research Institute and Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
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Public versus internal conceptions of addiction: An analysis of internal Philip Morris documents. PLoS Med 2018; 15:e1002562. [PMID: 29715300 PMCID: PMC5929514 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Accepted: 03/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tobacco addiction is a complex, multicomponent phenomenon stemming from nicotine's pharmacology and the user's biology, psychology, sociology, and environment. After decades of public denial, the tobacco industry now agrees with public health authorities that nicotine is addictive. In 2000, Philip Morris became the first major tobacco company to admit nicotine's addictiveness. Evolving definitions of addiction have historically affected subsequent policymaking. This article examines how Philip Morris internally conceptualized addiction immediately before and after this announcement. METHODS AND FINDINGS We analyzed previously secret, internal Philip Morris documents made available as a result of litigation against the tobacco industry. We compared these documents to public company statements and found that Philip Morris's move from public denial to public affirmation of nicotine's addictiveness coincided with pressure on the industry from poor public approval ratings, the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the United States government's filing of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) suit, and the Institute of Medicine's (IoM's) endorsement of potentially reduced risk products. Philip Morris continued to research the causes of addiction through the 2000s in order to create successful potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs). While Philip Morris's public statements reinforce the idea that nicotine's pharmacology principally drives smoking addiction, company scientists framed addiction as the result of interconnected biological, social, psychological, and environmental determinants, with nicotine as but one component. Due to the fragmentary nature of the industry document database, we may have missed relevant information that could have affected our analysis. CONCLUSIONS Philip Morris's research suggests that tobacco industry activity influences addiction treatment outcomes. Beyond nicotine's pharmacology, the industry's continued aggressive advertising, lobbying, and litigation against effective tobacco control policies promotes various nonpharmacological determinants of addiction. To help tobacco users quit, policy makers should increase attention on the social and environmental dimensions of addiction alongside traditional cessation efforts.
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McDaniel PA, Lown EA, Malone RE. "It doesn't seem to make sense for a company that sells cigarettes to help smokers stop using them": A case study of Philip Morris's involvement in smoking cessation. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0183961. [PMID: 28846738 PMCID: PMC5573297 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2017] [Accepted: 08/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the late 1990s, American tobacco companies began offering limited cessation assistance to smokers by posting links on their company websites to government-sponsored smoking cessation resources. Philip Morris USA (PM) went further, funding youth cessation programs and creating its own online cessation program, QuitAssist. We explore why PM entered the cessation arena, and describe the variety of options considered and how PM-supported cessation programs were evaluated and promoted. METHODS We retrieved and analyzed archival PM documents from 1998-2005. We supplemented information from the documents with scholarly articles assessing QuitAssist and archived versions of the PM and QuitAssist websites. RESULTS PM's Youth Smoking Prevention department began funding youth cessation projects and programs soon after its creation in 1998, motivated by the same issue that drove its interest in youth smoking prevention: regulatory threats posed by public and policymaker concern about youth smoking. The department took a similar approach to youth smoking cessation as it did with prevention, rejecting curricula with "anti-industry" themes. In 2002, a "cessation exploration team" examined a variety of rationales for and approaches to company support for adult smoking cessation. Ultimately, PM chose QuitAssist, a limited and less expensive option that nonetheless provided opportunities for engagement with a variety of public health and government officials. Independent research indicates that QuitAssist is not an effective cessation tool. CONCLUSIONS While the transformation of ambitious plans into a mundane final product is a recurring theme with PM's corporate responsibility efforts, it would be inappropriate to dismiss PM's smoking cessation endeavors as half-hearted attempts to appear responsible. Such endeavors have the potential to inflict real harm by competing with more effective programs and by helping to maintain a tobacco-favorable policy environment. If PM truly wanted to support cessation, it could drop legal and other challenges to public policies that discourage smoking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia A. McDaniel
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - E. Anne Lown
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America
| | - Ruth E. Malone
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America
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12
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Fooks GJ, Smith J, Lee K, Holden C. Controlling corporate influence in health policy making? An assessment of the implementation of article 5.3 of the World Health Organization framework convention on tobacco control. Global Health 2017; 13:12. [PMID: 28274267 PMCID: PMC5343400 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-017-0234-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2016] [Accepted: 02/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) stands to significantly reduce tobacco-related mortality by accelerating the introduction of evidence-based tobacco control measures. However, the extent to which States Parties have implemented the Convention varies considerably. Article 5.3 of the FCTC, is intended to insulate policy-making from the tobacco industry's political influence, and aims to address barriers to strong implementation of the Convention associated with tobacco industry political activity. This paper quantitatively assesses implementation of Article 5.3's Guidelines for Implementation, evaluates the strength of Parties' efforts to implement specific recommendations, and explores how different approaches to implementation expose the policy process to continuing industry influence. METHODS We cross-referenced a broad range of documentary data (including FCTC Party reports and World Bank data on the governance of conflicts of interest in public administration) against Article 5.3 implementation guidelines (n = 24) for 155 Parties, and performed an in-depth thematic analysis to examine the strength of implementation for specific recommendations. RESULTS Across all Parties, 16% of guideline recommendations reviewed have been implemented. Eighty-three percent of Parties that have taken some action under Article 5.3 have introduced less than a third of the guidelines. Most compliance with the guidelines is achieved through pre-existing policy instruments introduced independently of the FCTC, which rarely cover all relevant policy actors and fall short of the guideline recommendations. Measures introduced in response to the FCTC are typically restricted to health ministries and not explicit about third parties acting on behalf of the industry. Parties systematically overlook recommendations that facilitate industry monitoring. CONCLUSION Highly selective and incomplete implementation of specific guideline recommendations facilitates extensive ongoing opportunities for industry policy influence. Stronger commitment to implementation is required to ensure consistently strong compliance with the FCTC internationally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gary Jonas Fooks
- School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
| | - Julia Smith
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Kelley Lee
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Chris Holden
- Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, York, UK
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13
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McDaniel PA, Cadman B, Malone RE. Shared vision, shared vulnerability: A content analysis of corporate social responsibility information on tobacco industry websites. Prev Med 2016; 89:337-344. [PMID: 27261411 PMCID: PMC4969116 DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.05.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2016] [Revised: 05/27/2016] [Accepted: 05/28/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Tobacco companies rely on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to improve their public image and advance their political objectives, which include thwarting or undermining tobacco control policies. For these reasons, implementation guidelines for the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) recommend curtailing or prohibiting tobacco industry CSR. To understand how and where major tobacco companies focus their CSR resources, we explored CSR-related content on 4 US and 4 multinational tobacco company websites in February 2014. The websites described a range of CSR-related activities, many common across all companies, and no programs were unique to a particular company. The websites mentioned CSR activities in 58 countries, representing nearly every region of the world. Tobacco companies appear to have a shared vision about what constitutes CSR, due perhaps to shared vulnerabilities. Most countries that host tobacco company CSR programs are parties to the FCTC, highlighting the need for full implementation of the treaty, and for funding to monitor CSR activity, replace industry philanthropy, and enforce existing bans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia A McDaniel
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
| | - Brie Cadman
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
| | - Ruth E Malone
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
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14
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Lown EA, McDaniel PA, Malone RE. Tobacco is "our industry and we must support it": Exploring the potential implications of Zimbabwe's accession to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Global Health 2016; 12:2. [PMID: 26754965 PMCID: PMC4709866 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-015-0139-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2015] [Accepted: 12/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Zimbabwe is the largest tobacco producer in Africa. Despite expressing opposition in the past, Zimbabwe recently acceded to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). We explored why Zimbabwe acceded to the FCTC and the potential implications for tobacco control within Zimbabwe and globally. METHODS We conducted a qualitative archival case study based on 542 documents collected from 1) the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents; 2) media indexed in the Lexis-Nexis media database; 3) the websites for tobacco growers' associations, tobacco control groups, and international agencies; 4) FCTC reports and Framework Convention Alliance newsletters; 5) Zimbabwe's legal codes; and 6) the peer reviewed scientific literature related to tobacco growing. RESULTS Zimbabwe has a long history of tobacco growing. There are currently over 90,000 tobacco farmers, and tobacco growing is prioritized, despite widespread food insecurity and environmental degradation. Zimbabwean government officials have been outspoken FCTC critics; but recently joined the accord to better protect Zimbabwe's tobacco growing interests. FCTC membership obligates nations to implement a variety of tobacco control measures; Zimbabwe has implemented several measures aimed at reducing tobacco demand, but fewer aimed at reducing tobacco supply or protecting the environment. Zimbabwe joins the FCTC amid increased efforts to protect FCTC proceedings from industry interference, to adopt recommendations for alternative crops and livelihoods and reduce environmental damage. CONCLUSION Zimbabwe's decision to accede to the FCTC does not appear to represent a softening of its historical opposition to the treaty. Thus, its status as a Party creates opportunities for it to undermine ongoing efforts to implement and strengthen the treaty. At the same time, however, Zimbabwe's accession could provide much needed international support for Zimbabwe's civic organizations and its Ministry of Health to develop stronger tobacco control measures. How Zimbabwe's participation impacts the work of the FCTC as a whole may ultimately depend on the allegiances of its delegates, and the effectiveness of FCTC measures to limit tobacco industry interference and enforce compliance with FCTC measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Anne Lown
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0612, USA.
| | - Patricia A McDaniel
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0612, USA.
| | - Ruth E Malone
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0612, USA.
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McDaniel PA, Malone RE. "What Is Our Story?" Philip Morris's Changing Corporate Narrative. Am J Public Health 2015; 105:e68-75. [PMID: 26270280 DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2015.302767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES We sought to learn how employees reacted to changes in the corporate narrative of Philip Morris Companies (PMC) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. METHODS We analyzed archival internal tobacco industry documents about PMC's creation of a new corporate story. RESULTS In response to litigation and public opprobrium, PMC replaced its market success-oriented corporate narrative with a new one centered on responsibility. Although management sought to downplay inconsistencies between the old and new narratives, some employees reportedly had difficulty reconciling them, concerned that the responsibility focus might affect company profitability. However, others embraced the new narrative, suggesting radical ideas to prevent youth smoking. These ideas were not adopted. CONCLUSIONS PMC's new narrative was unconvincing to many of its employees, who perceived it either as a threat to the company's continued profits or as incongruous with what they had previously been told. As it had done with the public, PMC misled its employees in explaining a narrative repositioning that would help the company continue business as usual. Moving toward a tobacco endgame will require ongoing discursive and symbolic efforts to disrupt this narrative.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia A McDaniel
- All of the authors are with the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco
| | - Ruth E Malone
- All of the authors are with the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco
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16
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Hoek J. Informed choice and the nanny state: learning from the tobacco industry. Public Health 2015; 129:1038-45. [PMID: 25956554 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2015.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2014] [Revised: 01/26/2015] [Accepted: 03/12/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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Bolis I, Brunoro CM, Sznelwar LI. Mapping the relationships between work and sustainability and the opportunities for ergonomic action. APPLIED ERGONOMICS 2014; 45:1225-1239. [PMID: 24680165 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2014.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2013] [Revised: 02/17/2014] [Accepted: 02/23/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
A map was drawn up of the relationships between work (in its multiple interpretations) and sustainability (sustainable development and corporate sustainability) based on a bibliographic analysis of articles that discuss these themes jointly in the current academic literature. The position of the discipline of ergonomics focused on work was identified from this map and, based on its specific academic literature, it was possible to identify where this discipline could contribute so that work and workers can be included in the discourse of sustainable development and considered in corporate sustainability policies. Ergonomics can be actively influential within the organization on issues relating to work improvements; it may boost integrated increases in the organization's performance and in workers' well-being; it can provide support for changes and new (environmental) sustainability-related work requirements to be considered; and it can contribute to the definition of the concept of work in a context of sustainable development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Bolis
- Department of Production Engineering, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto, 530, São Paulo, SP 05508-010, Brazil.
| | - Claudio M Brunoro
- Department of Production Engineering, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto, 530, São Paulo, SP 05508-010, Brazil.
| | - Laerte I Sznelwar
- Department of Production Engineering, University of São Paulo, Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto, 530, São Paulo, SP 05508-010, Brazil.
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Fooks GJ, Gilmore AB. Corporate philanthropy, political influence, and health policy. PLoS One 2013; 8:e80864. [PMID: 24312249 PMCID: PMC3842338 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2013] [Accepted: 10/15/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) provides a basis for nation states to limit the political effects of tobacco industry philanthropy, yet progress in this area is limited. This paper aims to integrate the findings of previous studies on tobacco industry philanthropy with a new analysis of British American Tobacco's (BAT) record of charitable giving to develop a general model of corporate political philanthropy that can be used to facilitate implementation of the FCTC. Method Analysis of previously confidential industry documents, BAT social and stakeholder dialogue reports, and existing tobacco industry document studies on philanthropy. Results The analysis identified six broad ways in which tobacco companies have used philanthropy politically: developing constituencies to build support for policy positions and generate third party advocacy; weakening opposing political constituencies; facilitating access and building relationships with policymakers; creating direct leverage with policymakers by providing financial subsidies to specific projects; enhancing the donor's status as a source of credible information; and shaping the tobacco control agenda by shifting thinking on the importance of regulating the market environment for tobacco and the relative risks of smoking for population health. Contemporary BAT social and stakeholder reports contain numerous examples of charitable donations that are likely to be designed to shape the tobacco control agenda, secure access and build constituencies. Conclusions and Recommendations Tobacco companies' political use of charitable donations underlines the need for tobacco industry philanthropy to be restricted via full implementation of Articles 5.3 and 13 of the FCTC. The model of tobacco industry philanthropy developed in this study can be used by public health advocates to press for implementation of the FCTC and provides a basis for analysing the political effects of charitable giving in other industry sectors which have an impact on public health such as alcohol and food.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gary J. Fooks
- Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Anna B. Gilmore
- Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
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Yoon S, Lam TH. The illusion of righteousness: corporate social responsibility practices of the alcohol industry. BMC Public Health 2013; 13:630. [PMID: 23822724 PMCID: PMC3706248 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2013] [Accepted: 06/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an integral element of how the alcohol industry promotes itself. The existing analyses of CSR in the alcohol industry point to the misleading nature of these CSR practices. Yet, research has been relatively sparse on how the alcohol industry advances CSR in an attempt to facilitate underlying business interests, and in what ways the ongoing display of industry CSR impacts public health. This paper aims to investigate the alcohol industry's recent CSR engagements and explain how CSR forms part of the industry's wider political and corporate strategies. METHODS Our study used qualitative methods to collect and analyse data. We searched for materials pertaining to CSR activities from websites of three transnational alcohol corporations, social media platforms, media reports and other sources. Relevant documents were thematically analysed with an iterative approach. RESULTS Our analysis identified three CSR tactics employed by the alcohol companies which are closely tied in with the industry's underlying corporate intents. First, the alcohol manufacturers employ CSR as a means to frame issues, define problems and guide policy debates. In doing this, the alcohol companies are able to deflect and shift the blame from those who manufacture and promote alcoholic products to those who consume them. Second, the alcohol corporations promote CSR initiatives on voluntary regulation in order to delay and offset alcohol control legislation. Third, the alcohol corporations undertake philanthropic sponsorships as a means of indirect brand marketing as well as gaining preferential access to emerging alcohol markets. CONCLUSIONS The increasing penetration and involvement of the alcohol industry into CSR highlights the urgent needs for public health counter actions. Implementation of any alcohol control measures should include banning or restricting the publicity efforts of the industry's CSR and informing the public of the alcohol industry's notion of social responsibility. More significantly, an internationally binding instrument should be called for to enable countries to differentiate between genuine concerns and spurious altruism, and in doing so, resist the industry's attempt to erode alcohol control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sungwon Yoon
- Department of Community Medicine & School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China
| | - Tai-Hing Lam
- Department of Community Medicine & School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China
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Campaign to counter a deteriorating consumer market: Philip Morris's Project Sunrise. Public Health 2013; 127:134-42. [DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2012.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2012] [Revised: 07/18/2012] [Accepted: 11/21/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Fooks G, Gilmore A, Collin J, Holden C, Lee K. The Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility: Techniques of Neutralization, Stakeholder Management and Political CSR. JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS : JBE 2013; 112:283-299. [PMID: 23997379 PMCID: PMC3755635 DOI: 10.1007/s10551-012-1250-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2009] [Accepted: 02/15/2012] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Since scholarly interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has primarily focused on the synergies between social and economic performance, our understanding of how (and the conditions under which) companies use CSR to produce policy outcomes that work against public welfare has remained comparatively under-developed. In particular, little is known about how corporate decision-makers privately reconcile the conflicts between public and private interests, even though this is likely to be relevant to understanding the limitations of CSR as a means of aligning business activity with the broader public interest. This study addresses this issue using internal tobacco industry documents to explore British-American Tobacco's (BAT) thinking on CSR and its effects on the company's CSR Programme. The article presents a three-stage model of CSR development, based on Sykes and Matza's theory of techniques of neutralization, which links together: how BAT managers made sense of the company's declining political authority in the mid-1990s; how they subsequently justified the use of CSR as a tool of stakeholder management aimed at diffusing the political impact of public health advocates by breaking up political constituencies working towards evidence-based tobacco regulation; and how CSR works ideologically to shape stakeholders' perceptions of the relative merits of competing approaches to tobacco control. Our analysis has three implications for research and practice. First, it underlines the importance of approaching corporate managers' public comments on CSR critically and situating them in their economic, political and historical contexts. Second, it illustrates the importance of focusing on the political aims and effects of CSR. Third, by showing how CSR practices are used to stymie evidence-based government regulation, the article underlines the importance of highlighting and developing matrices to assess the negative social impacts of CSR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gary Fooks
- Department of Health, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY UK
| | - Anna Gilmore
- Department of Health, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY UK
| | - Jeff Collin
- Global Health Policy, Centre for International Public Health Policy, School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh, Medical Buildings, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG UK
| | - Chris Holden
- Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD UK
| | - Kelley Lee
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Room 11322, Blusson Hall, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6 Canada
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McDaniel PA, Malone RE. "The Big WHY": Philip Morris's failed search for corporate social value. Am J Public Health 2012; 102:1942-50. [PMID: 22897536 DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2011.300619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES We examined Philip Morris USA's exploration of corporate social responsibility practices and principles and its outcome. METHODS We analyzed archival internal tobacco industry documents, generated in 2000 to 2002, related to discussions of corporate social responsibility among a Corporate Responsibility Taskforce and senior management at Philip Morris. RESULTS In exploring corporate social responsibility, Philip Morris executives sought to identify the company's social value-its positive contribution to society. Struggling to find an answer, they considered dramatically changing the way the company marketed its products, apologizing for past actions, and committing the company to providing benefits for future generations. These ideas were eventually abandoned. Despite an initial call to distinguish between social and economic value, Philip Morris ultimately equated social value with providing shareholder returns. CONCLUSIONS When even tobacco executives struggle to define their company's social value, it signals an opening to advocate for endgame scenarios that would encourage supply-side changes appropriate to the scale of the tobacco disease epidemic and consistent with authentic social value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia A McDaniel
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
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Success counteracting tobacco company interference in Thailand: an example of FCTC implementation for low- and middle-income countries. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2012; 9:1111-34. [PMID: 22690186 PMCID: PMC3366603 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph9041111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2012] [Revised: 03/17/2012] [Accepted: 03/19/2012] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) interfere regularly in policymaking in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control provides mechanisms and guidance for dealing with TTC interference, but many countries still face ‘how to’ challenges of implementation. For more than two decades, Thailand’s public health community has been developing a system for identifying and counteracting strategies TTCs use to derail, delay and undermine tobacco control policymaking. Consequently, Thailand has already implemented most of the FCTC guidelines for counteracting TTC interference. In this study, our aims are to describe strategies TTCs have used in Thailand to interfere in policymaking, and to examine how the public health community in Thailand has counteracted TTC interference. We analyzed information reported by three groups with a stake in tobacco control policies: Thai tobacco control advocates, TTCs, and international tobacco control experts. To identify TTC viewpoints and strategies, we also extracted information from internal tobacco industry documents. We synthesized these data and identified six core strategies TTCs use to interfere in tobacco control policymaking: (1) doing business with ‘two faces’, (2) seeking to influence people in high places, (3) ‘buying’ advocates in grassroots organizations, (4) putting up a deceptive front, (5) intimidation, and (6) undermining controls on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. We present three case examples showing where TTCs have employed multiple interference strategies simultaneously, and showing how Thai tobacco control advocates have successfully counteracted those strategies by: (1) conducting vigilant surveillance, (2) excluding tobacco companies from policymaking, (3) restricting tobacco company sales, (4) sustaining pressure, and (5) dedicating resources to the effective enforcement of regulations. Policy implications from this study are that tobacco control advocates in LMICs may be able to develop countermeasures similar to those we identified in Thailand based on FCTC guidelines to limit TTC interference.
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Smith E. Corporate image and public health: an analysis of the Philip Morris, Kraft, and Nestlé websites. JOURNAL OF HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2012; 17:582-600. [PMID: 22420639 PMCID: PMC3362195 DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2011.635776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Companies need to maintain a good reputation to do business; however, companies in the infant formula, tobacco, and processed food industries have been identified as promoting disease. Such companies use their websites as a means of promulgating a positive public image, thereby potentially reducing the effectiveness of public health campaigns against the problems they perpetuate. The author examined documents from the websites of Philip Morris, Kraft, and Nestlé for issue framing and analyzed them using Benoit's typology of corporate image repair strategies. All three companies defined the problems they were addressing strategically, minimizing their own responsibility and the consequences of their actions. They proposed solutions that were actions to be taken by others. They also associated themselves with public health organizations. Health advocates should recognize industry attempts to use relationships with health organizations as strategic image repair and reject industry efforts to position themselves as stakeholders in public health problems. Denormalizing industries that are disease vectors, not just their products, may be critical in realizing positive change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Smith
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94118, USA.
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25
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Weishaar H, Collin J, Smith K, Grüning T, Mandal S, Gilmore A. Global health governance and the commercial sector: a documentary analysis of tobacco company strategies to influence the WHO framework convention on tobacco control. PLoS Med 2012; 9:e1001249. [PMID: 22745607 PMCID: PMC3383743 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2011] [Accepted: 05/09/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In successfully negotiating the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the World Health Organization (WHO) has led a significant innovation in global health governance, helping to transform international tobacco control. This article provides the first comprehensive review of the diverse campaign initiated by transnational tobacco corporations (TTCs) to try to undermine the proposed convention. METHODS AND FINDINGS The article is primarily based on an analysis of internal tobacco industry documents made public through litigation, triangulated with data from official documentation relating to the FCTC process and websites of relevant organisations. It is also informed by a comprehensive review of previous studies concerning tobacco industry efforts to influence the FCTC. The findings demonstrate that the industry's strategic response to the proposed WHO convention was two-fold. First, arguments and frames were developed to challenge the FCTC, including: claiming there would be damaging economic consequences; depicting tobacco control as an agenda promoted by high-income countries; alleging the treaty conflicted with trade agreements, "good governance," and national sovereignty; questioning WHO's mandate; claiming the FCTC would set a precedent for issues beyond tobacco; and presenting corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an alternative. Second, multiple tactics were employed to promote and increase the impact of these arguments, including: directly targeting FCTC delegations and relevant political actors, enlisting diverse allies (e.g., mass media outlets and scientists), and using stakeholder consultation to delay decisions and secure industry participation. CONCLUSIONS TTCs' efforts to undermine the FCTC were comprehensive, demonstrating the global application of tactics that TTCs have previously been found to have employed nationally and further included arguments against the FCTC as a key initiative in global health governance. Awareness of these strategies can help guard against industry efforts to disrupt the implementation of the FCTC and support the development of future, comparable initiatives in global health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heide Weishaar
- Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
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Gonzalez M, Ling PM, Glantz SA. Planting trees without leaving home: tobacco company direct-to-consumer CSR efforts. Tob Control 2011; 21:363-5. [PMID: 22193045 DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mariaelena Gonzalez
- Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education, UCSF, 530 Parnassus Ave. Box 1390, San Francisco, CA 94143-1390, USA.
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Otañez M, Glantz SA. Social responsibility in tobacco production? Tobacco companies' use of green supply chains to obscure the real costs of tobacco farming. Tob Control 2011; 20:403-11. [PMID: 21504915 PMCID: PMC3155738 DOI: 10.1136/tc.2010.039537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tobacco companies have come under increased criticism because of environmental and labour practices related to growing tobacco in developing countries. METHODS Analysis of tobacco industry documents, industry websites and interviews with tobacco farmers in Tanzania and tobacco farm workers, farm authorities, trade unionists, government officials and corporate executives from global tobacco leaf companies in Malawi. RESULTS British American Tobacco and Philip Morris created supply chains in the 1990 s to improve production efficiency, control, access to markets and profits. In the 2000s, the companies used their supply chains in an attempt to legitimise their portrayals of tobacco farming as socially and environmentally friendly, rather than take meaningful steps to eliminate child labour and reduce deforestation in developing countries. The tobacco companies used nominal self-evaluation (not truly independent evaluators) and public relations to create the impression of social responsibility. The companies benefit from $1.2 billion in unpaid labour costs because of child labour and more than $64 million annually in costs that would have been made to avoid tobacco-related deforestation in the top 12 tobacco growing developing countries, far exceeding the money they spend nominally working to change these practices. CONCLUSIONS The tobacco industry uses green supply chains to make tobacco farming in developing countries appear sustainable while continuing to purchase leaf produced with child labour and high rates of deforestation. Strategies to counter green supply chain schemes include securing implementing protocols for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to regulate the companies' practices at the farm level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marty Otañez
- Department of Anthropology, Campus Box 103, P.O. Box 173364, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217-3364, tel: 303 556 6606, fax: 303 556 8501,
| | - Stanton A Glantz
- Department of Medicine, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-1390, tel. 415 476 3893, fax 415 514 9345,
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Hurt RD, Ebbert JO, Achadi A, Croghan IT. Roadmap to a tobacco epidemic: transnational tobacco companies invade Indonesia. Tob Control 2011; 21:306-12. [PMID: 21852413 DOI: 10.1136/tc.2010.036814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Indonesia is the world's fifth largest cigarette market in the world but for decades, transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) have had limited success infiltrating this market, due to their inability to compete in the kretek market. Kreteks are clove/tobacco cigarettes that most Indonesians smoke. OBJECTIVE To determine how Phillip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco (BAT) have now successfully achieved a substantial market presence in Indonesia. METHODS We analyzed previously secret, tobacco industry documents, corporate reports on Indonesia operations, the Tobacco Trade press, Indonesia media, and "The Roadmap". RESULTS Internal, corporate documents from BAT and PMI demonstrate that they had known for decades that kreteks are highly carcinogenic. Despite that knowledge, BAT and PMI now own and heavily market these products, as well as new more westernised versions of kreteks. BAT and PMI used their successful basic strategy of keeping cigarettes affordable by maintaining the social responsibility of smoking and opposing smoke-free workplace laws but in the 21st century, they added the acquisition of and westernisation of domestic kretek manufacturers as an additional strategy. These acquisitions allowed them to assert influences on health policy in Indonesia and to grow their business under current government policy embodied in the 2007-2020 Roadmap of Tobacco Products Industry and Excise Policy which calls for increased cigarette production by 12% over the next 15 years. CONCLUSION PMI and Bat have successfully entered and are expanding their share in the Indonesia cigarette market. Despite the obvious and pervasive influence of the tobacco industry on policy decisions, the Indonesian government should ratify the FCTC and implement effective legislation to reduce tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke and revise the Roadmap to protect future generations of Indonesians.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard D Hurt
- Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Research Program, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
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Fooks GJ, Gilmore AB, Smith KE, Collin J, Holden C, Lee K. Corporate social responsibility and access to policy élites: an analysis of tobacco industry documents. PLoS Med 2011; 8:e1001076. [PMID: 21886485 PMCID: PMC3160341 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2010] [Accepted: 06/30/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent attempts by large tobacco companies to represent themselves as socially responsible have been widely dismissed as image management. Existing research supports such claims by pointing to the failings and misleading nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. However, few studies have focused in depth on what tobacco companies hoped to achieve through CSR or reflected on the extent to which these ambitions have been realised. METHODS AND FINDINGS Iterative searching relating to CSR strategies was undertaken of internal British American Tobacco (BAT) documents, released through litigation in the US. Relevant documents (764) were indexed and qualitatively analysed. In the past decade, BAT has actively developed a wide-ranging CSR programme. Company documents indicate that one of the key aims of this programme was to help the company secure access to policymakers and, thereby, increase the company's chances of influencing policy decisions. Taking the UK as a case study, this paper demonstrates the way in which CSR can be used to renew and maintain dialogue with policymakers, even in ostensibly unreceptive political contexts. In practice, the impact of this political use of CSR is likely to be context specific; depending on factors such as policy élites' understanding of the credibility of companies as a reliable source of information. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that tobacco company CSR strategies can enable access to and dialogue with policymakers and provide opportunities for issue definition. CSR should therefore be seen as a form of corporate political activity. This underlines the need for broad implementation of Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Measures are needed to ensure transparency of interactions between all parts of government and the tobacco industry and for policy makers to be made more aware of what companies hope to achieve through CSR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gary J Fooks
- School for Health, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
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30
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Gonzalez M, Green LW, Glantz SA. Through tobacco industry eyes: civil society and the FCTC process from Philip Morris and British American Tobacco's perspectives. Tob Control 2011; 21:e1. [PMID: 21636611 DOI: 10.1136/tc.2010.041657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To analyse the models Philip Morris (PM) and British American Tobacco (BAT) used internally to understand tobacco control non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their relationship to the global tobacco control policy-making process that resulted in the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC). METHODS Analysis of internal tobacco industry documents in the Legacy Tobacco Document Library. RESULTS PM contracted with Mongoven, Biscoe, and Duchin, Inc. (MBD, a consulting firm specialising in NGO surveillance) as advisors. MBD argued that because NGOs are increasingly linked to epistemic communities, NGOs could insert themselves into the global policy-making process and influence the discourse surrounding the treaty-making process. MBD advised PM to insert itself into the policy-making process, mimicking NGO behaviour. BAT's Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (CORA) department argued that global regulation emerged from the perception (by NGOs and governments) that the industry could not regulate itself, leading to BAT advocating social alignment and self-regulation to minimise the impact of the FCTC. Most efforts to block or redirect the FCTC failed. CONCLUSIONS PM and BAT articulated a global policy-making environment in which NGOs are key, non-state stakeholders, and as a result, internationalised some of their previous national-level strategies. After both companies failed to prevent the FCTC, their strategies began to align. Multinational corporations have continued to successfully employ some of the strategies outlined in this paper at the local and national level while being formally excluded from ongoing FCTC negotiations at the global level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariaelena Gonzalez
- Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education, UCSF, 530 Parnassus Avenue, Box 1390, San Francisco, California 94143-1390, USA
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Lando HA, Hipple BJ, Muramoto M, Klein JD, Prokhorov AV, Ossip DJ, Winickoff JP. Tobacco Control and Children: An International Perspective. PEDIATRIC ALLERGY IMMUNOLOGY AND PULMONOLOGY 2010; 23:99-103. [PMID: 22375275 DOI: 10.1089/ped.2010.0012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2010] [Accepted: 05/21/2010] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Tobacco use currently claims >5 million deaths per year worldwide and this number is projected to increase dramatically by 2030. The burden of death and disease is shifting to low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco control initiatives face numerous challenges including not being a high priority in many countries, government dependence upon immediate revenue from tobacco sales and production, and opposition of the tobacco industry. Tobacco leads to environmental harms, exploitation of workers in tobacco farming, and increased poverty. Children are especially vulnerable. Not only do they initiate tobacco use themselves, but also they are victimized by exposure to highly toxic secondhand smoke. Awareness of tobacco adverse health effects is often superficial even among health professionals. The tobacco industry continues to aggressively promote its products and recognizes that children are its future. The tools and knowledge exist, however, to dramatically reduce the global burden of tobacco. In 2003 the World Health Organization adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Aggressive tobacco control initiatives have been undertaken not only in high-income countries but also in less-wealthy countries such as Uruguay and Thailand. Stakeholders must come together in coordinated efforts and there must be a broad and sustained investment in global tobacco control.
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McDaniel PA, Malone RE. Creating the "desired mindset": Philip Morris's efforts to improve its corporate image among women. Women Health 2010; 49:441-74. [PMID: 19851947 DOI: 10.1080/03630240903238800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Through analysis of tobacco company documents, we explored how and why Philip Morris sought to enhance its corporate image among American women. Philip Morris regarded women as an influential political group. To improve its image among women, while keeping tobacco off their organizational agendas, the company sponsored women's groups and programs. It also sought to appeal to women it defined as "active moms" by advertising its commitment to domestic violence victims. It was more successful in securing women's organizations as allies than active moms. Increasing tobacco's visibility as a global women's health issue may require addressing industry influence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia A McDaniel
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94118, USA.
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