From: alacolo@frontier.net
Date: Tue, 11/28/00
November 28, 2000
It isn't often you get to read something that shows that
fear inside the tobacco industry, but here is one such document.
Ten years ago the industry noted that a former staunch ally, the
Economist magazine, did a 180-degree turn, printing an article
that stated that tobacco "...kills about 3M people a year
around the world, and the number is rising fast" The article went
on to cite the "...obvious self-interest and fraudulent arguments
of the tobacco and alcohol lobbies..." and actually called these
entities "lying killers."
This strong wording caught the attention of the tobacco industry.
Subsequently this "discussion paper" paper (marked "private" and
"confidential" and "not to be copied") was written. It is as close to a
soul-searching exercise as we may ever see within the tobacco
industry. The paper explores the reasons for the
public's "discontent" with the tobacco industry. Yet rather than
considering with contrition the accusation that its products kill
3 million people every year worldwide, the writer is
possessed of a siege mentality, and compares the
industry's struggle to a war:
"...The pressure against us is growing at a frightening
speed...Defeat, like fear, is contagious. Once people sense
surrender is in the air, the collapse of the whole operation can come with
enormous rapidity....The collapse of South Vietnam is a graphic case in
point. "
The writer then lays out a strategic plan of action to deal with the dire
situation. Once again however, opposite to the industry's
1954 pledge in the "Frank Statement" that it intended to work with
public health entities, their strategy consists of fanning the flames
of doubt about its products, utilizing third parties to do the industry's
bidding, and carrying on "offensive" media campaigns.
But perhaps the most important strategic point made by this paper
(one that advocates should definitely note), is the reason why preserving
advertising and sponsorship is so important to this
industry. These activities buy them a host of extremely
powerful supporters. Losing these supporters
would devastate the industry's power base because it would drastically
cut the industry's politcal and media clout. The writer says it
clearly:
"...If one takes the pessimistic view of present trends, the
tobacco industry could lose almost all its political clout within two
years. Overstated? Not really. If you take away advertising
and sponsorship, you lost most, if not all, of your media and political
allies."
Title: SOME REFLECTIONS ON OUR PRESENT DISCONTENT - OR
WHY WE ARE LOSING THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS WAR ON TOBACCO?
Type of
Document: Report
Author: N/A (Philip Morris
inferred)
Recipient: N/A
Date:
19900000/E
Page Count: 4
Found Using Search Criteria: "Public Affairs &
confidential"
Quote:
...A major crunch is near when we will be facing, not so much a
continuation of the episodic guerilla warfare we have had to endure over the
last 25 years, but rather we will find ourselves in a tightly constrained and
perilous "end game." When that point is reached, and it could be just
around the corner, all our efforts will be hugely discounted and the result
almost inevitably negative...
A vivid and forceful illustration of this worrying phenomenon was
presented...in the prestigious journal, The Economist....The leader,
titled "Advertising under siege," is worth cool reflection. The second
sentence reads in part -- "The drug which Raleigh introduced to Europe now kills
about 3M people a year around the world, and the number is rising fast."
It then goes on apropos of the current wave of imposed or threatened advertising
bans to say, that the "temptation to support such bans is immense--not least
because of the obvious self-interest and fraudulent arguments of the tobacco and
alcohol lobbies...The heart urges a ban on their lying killers" (this presumably
is a reference to us!).
In the recent past, the Economist has castigated the whole
concepts of foundations created by "social cost" levies...as "an exercise in bad
government." ...
...But clearly it has been won over by the statistical claims and
one-eyed moralism of the anti-tobacco lobby. Why is this so and what does
it say about the counter campaign of the industry? The answer to both
questions in fairly clear. We have dissipated our efforts, failed to use
third parties effectively and lacked real follow through...
...The pressure against us is growing at a frightening speed.
We are now in a new ball game. It's quite possible that unless we change
our whole approach very quickly, and start using our resources in a much more
intelligent fashion, we will find that within 12 months we could well lose our
advertising and sponsorship, and a good deal of our marketing freedoms in most
of our major markets. We could also face a worldwide spread of almost
punitive tax regimes on tobacco...
Defeat, like fear, is contagious. Once people sense surrender
is in the air, the collapse of the whole operation can come with enormous
rapidity....The collapse of South Vietnam is a graphic case in point. We
could be looking at such a scenario in a year or two's time if we don't
seriously take the measure of our present plight.
We must, fundamentally, face the fact that the health issue drives
every other issue. Not to even respond to the health issue, which is
increasingly the case, simply confirms our "guilt" in the eye of both the public
and politicians. Like the man who doesn't respond to an outrageous
libel,
the public, and indeed the law, tend to read such acquiescence as intimating
guilt....It suggests intellectual and even moral bankruptcy.
What is to be Done?
The way out of our increasingly bleak dilemma is clear and
realizable. We must robustly face up to the nature and scale of the
challenge. While being prudent, we can no longer afford to hide behind the
lawyer's instinctive caution as an all purpose excuse for putting up a
half-hearted response.
What follows is a suggested plan of action for winning this
war:
1. Squarely face up to the health issue and demonstrate the
genuine doubts, conflicts, ambiguities and contradictions that characterize the
evidence against smoking. This means using effectively, preferably
through third parties, the many experts, scholars and commentators who over the
years have criticized our opponents.
2. Go on the offensive through imaginative advocacy
advertising campaigns, using leading figures around the world who will put the
best arguments on a range of issues...
3. Arrange, through reputable third parties, a series of top
seminars which will mobilize leading experts on such issues as "creative
epidemiology," politicized health campaigns, the link between advertising
freedoms and human rights and democracy, the "hidden agenda" of many of the
anti-smoking and anti-business activists, etc.
4. Fortify...the range of coalitions to oppose both
advertising and sponsorship bans.
5. Stress the absurd (often inhumane) priorities involved
with anti-smoking campaigns in the third world...
6. Set up, through a reputable third party...a scientific
assessment bureau which would establish a bank of experts to respond responsibly
to attacks on our industry...
7. Establish a small, but very selective "brain trust" within
PM companies to discuss and generate new ideas, new strategies and new programs
on the corporate affairs front...
.....If one takes the pessimistic view of present trends, the
tobacco industry could lose almost all its political clout within two
years. Overstated? Not really. If you take away advertising
and sponsorship, you lost most, if not all, of your media and political
allies. If you take away those freedoms there is hardly any barrier to a
punitive tax regime, part of it going to fund our complete anathemazation
through the funding of ever more extreme anti-campaigns...
We could well be in this position within two years or even less, if
the pace of present restrictions worldwide continues. It doesn't take much
imagination to see what this would mean for our share price, not to mention our
reputation.
Compared to the billions we could lose, our present commitment to
recovering both commercial, political and, not least, moral ground is, to put it
baldly, pitiful. The time to get on top of this deteriorating situation is
now....
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