1. Shifting the burden from corporations to the public: the tobacco industry plays a shell game with corporate social responsibility and personal responsibility
Presented by Lissy C. Friedman, JD, Senior Staff Attorney
Public Health Advocacy Institute
Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA
138th American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
Denver, CO Tuesday, November 9, 2010

2. Presenter Disclosures
Lissy Friedman, J.D.
Senior Staff Attorney
Public Health Advocacy Institute
The following personal financial relationships with commercial interests relevant to this presentation existed during the past 12 months:
No relationships to disclose.
PHAI © 2010

3. Agenda
Use of Corporate Social Responsibility and Personal Responsibility Rhetoric:
“Youth Smoking Prevention” Campaigns
Secondhand Smoke “Accommodation Strategy”
Smoking Cessation Program & Smokeless Tobacco
Additional Resources (Issue Briefs)

4. The Industry’s Image Problem
“the tobacco industry is seen as the worst in fulfilling its responsibility to society,” and “[PM] is already seen as being among the least socially responsible companies in the United States.”
-2001 PM Survey
(emphasis added)
08/21/01
Whistleblowers, disclosure of internal documents, MSA, plaintiff victories in lawsuits have caused:
Tobacco industry becoming a pariah.
Smoking less socially acceptable.
This threatens profits and the industry’s viability.
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5. Improve Image Through Corporate Normalization“…
CSR is becoming a mainstream tactic to improve a corporation’s image, but tobacco is not a mainstream industry. .”
-2001 speech by Steve Parrish, PM Sr. VP of Corp. Affairs,
describing the company’s goal of achieving “corporate normalcy,”
(2001)
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6. Tobacco Industry Denormalization
Denormalization uses counter- marketing and intervention efforts to:
remove the legitimacy and normality garnered by tobacco industry CSR efforts
generate support for additional tobacco regulation and tobacco control interventions
Image available at:
Doesn’t focus on making smoking less socially acceptable.
Focuses lens on corporate behavior
-American Legacy Foundation truth ® counter-marketing campaign. Available at
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7. Personal Responsibility: A Winner for Big Tobacco
The industry uses buzz words and phrases like:
“personal responsibility”
“free and informed choice”
“individual choice”
Ignores relentless and pervasive marketing by tobacco industry.
Ignores the fact that 80% of people start smoking when they are teenagers, when their cognitive functions and decision-making abilities are not fully formed.
Ignores addictive nature of cigarettes.
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8. Common YSP Themes Smoking is a
legitimate choice which carries responsibility
Use of overt and/or subliminal messages which glamorize smoking
Bumper sticker available at
Tobacco industry says that youth smoking stems from bad parenting and peer pressure.
They used the YSP programs to address youth directly and study youth smoking behavior.
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9. Focus on Youth Responsibility, Not Corporate Responsibility
The teacher’s guide to the RJR’s “Right Decisions, Right Now” curriculum stated:
“This study guide focuses on responsibility – defining it and giving students a solid foundation on which to form their own attitudes and actions. Too often, young people associate the concept of responsibility with blame ”
RJR is trying to brainwash/create future customers who won’t sue the company for their smoking-related injuries later because they’ll believe that their condition is solely their own responsibility.
– (2000)
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10. Subliminal Messages That Glamorize Smoking
The book covers had the PM name printed on the inside.
School officials denounced the book covers for using subliminal images and called them a “promotional endeavor.”
Public health officials and tobacco control groups enlisted the aid of state AGs and other public officials.
This put PM on the defensive, and resulted in the cancellation of the book cover program.
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11. Secondhand Smoke Is Dangerous . . . for the tobacco companies.
Declining Social Acceptability of Smoking = Decline in Sales
Harm to non-smokers from SHS takes away traditional “freedom of choice” argument
Fewer Smokers + Fewer Places to Smoke = Declining Profits
Tobacco Institute lawyer John Rupp stated in 1986: “ETS [is the] Achilles heel of the industry.”
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12. Can’t we all just get along?
Big Tobacco’s “Accommodation Strategy:”
Accommodation and courtesy
can address SHS concerns
No regulation is needed
Smokers and non-smokers
just need to communicate better
The “Accommodation Strategy”
shifts the burden of responsibility away from tobacco companies and onto others
No need to make cigarettes less toxic
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13. We wish you could quit us . . .
PM’s “Societal Alignment” strategy includes a smoking cessation program called “QuitAssist.”
PM hopes “QuitAssist” will help it seem like an enlightened and altruistic company, but continues to emphasize personal responsibility, not corporate responsibility.
Photo and logo from accessed on 6/21/10.
The quote in the picture says “I quit smoking because I really put my mind to quitting.”
Again, emphasis on personal responsibility, not corporate responsibility.
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14. Can’t Quit? Go Smokeless!
THE STRATEGY:
Acquire smokeless tobacco companies
Put smokeless tobacco on a “continuum of risk”
Promote smokeless as an alternative to quitting
Promote “dual use consumption” of smokeless tobacco and cigarettes
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15. Conclusion
Tobacco companies continue to use CSR and personal responsibility rhetoric and tactics to try to normalize their image and shift blame away from themselves.
Tobacco control and public health advocates must push back against this and denormalize the tobacco industry’s image through counter-marketing and activism.
PHAI © 2010

16. Additional Resources
Visit for information on how to access detailed issue briefs on the following topics:
The tobacco industry’s use of corporate social responsibility rhetoric & tactics
Denormalization of tobacco industry corporate social responsibility initiatives
Tobacco industry “youth smoking prevention” programs
Secondhand smoke “accommodation strategy”
Industry smoking cessation programs
READ LINK
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17. For further information, contact:
Lissy C. Friedman
Senior Staff Attorney
Public Health Advocacy Institute
102 The Fenway, Suite 117
Boston, MA
(617)
To access Issue Briefs visit
PHAI © 2010