Tobacco Industry Attempts to Thwart Health Promotion Initiatives for Tobacco Control in Australia

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Tobacco Industry Attempts to Thwart Health
Promotion Initiatives for Tobacco Control in
Australia

• Laura Bond, Jaimee Coombs, Mike Daube

WA Tobacco Document Searching Program
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Background

• 1998 Master Settlement Agreement
• Tobacco industry documents available through
  online archives
• Tobacco control campaigns
• Tobacco industry strategies

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Methods

• Tobacco document archives
• Philip Morris Document Site
• Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
• British American Tobacco Documents Archive
• Keywords
• Health promotion, health groups
• Australia
• Tobacco control
• Campaign/s
• Antis, activists

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Results

• Groups
• Action on Smoking Health (ASH) Australia
• Australian Cancer Society
• Australian Council on Smoking Health
• Australian Medical Association
• Healthway and other Health Promotion Foundations
• National Heart Foundation
• Public Health Association (Australia)
• The Cancer Foundation WA (Cancer Council)
• WA Health Department

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(Philip Morris Australia, 1992)
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Antis Strategies

• Legislation
• Litigation
• Exaggeration to attract headlines
• Misrepresentation of data
• Smokers as victims
• Tobacco industry as subversives
• (Philip Morris Corporate Affairs, 1995)

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Tobacco Industry Strategies

• Monitoring of tobacco control activity
• Lobbying government/politicians
• Relationships with allied industries and
  businesses
• Funding research to support their claims
• Promoting smokers rights
• Promoting corporate social responsibility

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National Tobacco Campaign

• Launched in 1997
• Target group 18-40 year old smokers
• Collaboration between the Federal, State and
  Territory Governments and non-Government
  organisations
• Multi-tiered campaign
• Hard-hitting advertisements
• Every cigarette is doing you damage
• Supported by cessation services (Quitline)

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Tobacco Industry Response

• A waste of money and a smokescreen
• Unreliable data
• 70 do not believe anti-smoking campaign best
  option for Australia
• Anti-smoking campaigns nominated by less than 1
  as most important issue facing Australia
• Heavily monitored campaign

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(No Transcript)
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Success!

• 190,000 quit smoking within the first six months
• High rates of recall and recognition
• Well received by smokers
• Increased learning about health effects of
  smoking
• Calls made to Quitline increased
• Saved millions in health costs
• International recognition
• Younger target group
• Support for public education

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Graphic Health Warnings Campaign

• Campaign launched Feb 2006
• Graphic health warnings 1 March 2006
• Tobacco products to be printed with a rotation of
  14 health warnings
• Covering 30 front of pack
• Covering 90 back of pack
• Aims to increase consumer knowledge of the
  health effects of smoking to encourage
  cessation and discourage uptake or relapse

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(No Transcript)
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• We question however, the appropriateness of
  using confronting pictorial warnings to shock and
  repel consumers of tobacco products.
• (British American Tobacco, Submission to the Dept
  Health and Aged Care, 2001)
• In order to be clear and readable, health
  warnings do not need to dominate the tobacco
  product package, overwhelm our trade marks or
  make the products packaging shocking or
  repulsive.
• We will oppose any proposal to require oversized
  and/or graphic warnings.
• (Philip Morris, Submission to the Dept Health and
  Aged Care, 2001)

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Tobacco Industry Response

• British American Tobacco
• Lack of evidence that health warnings will be
  effective
• Current labelling already one of the strongest in
  the world
• Australians already aware of health risks
• Unnecessary financial burden on the industry and
  consumers
• Will lead to increase in illegal sales and job
  losses
• Denigrate consumers
• Philip Morris
• Overpowering trade marks of a legal product
• Denigrate/devalue the property of the
  manufacturer of a legal product
• Unreasonably sized warnings would raise serious
  issues under domestic and international law

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Success!

• Graphic health warnings introduced
• Increased knowledge about health effects of
  smoking
• Encouraged cessation
• Discouraged uptake and relapse
• Less desirable

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WA Health Promotion Foundation

• Healthway was established in 1991 under the
  Western Australian Tobacco Control Act 1990.
• Discourages tobacco use, promotes good health,
  prevents illness
• Sponsors sport, arts and racing
• Funds health promotion programs and research

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Tobacco Industry Response
For boundless hypocrisy the Western Australian
Health Promotion Foundation has no
peer. (Australian Retail Tobacconist,
1991) These government groups which are funded
as hypothecated taxation vehicles by health
bureaucrats really must be stopped from
spreading. (Martin Riordan, WD HO Wills, 1995)
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• Price Waterhouse Report
• Inconclusive evidence that smoking will decrease
• Reduced government investment in housing,
  transport and employment
• Increased burden on low income earners
• Tobacco users paying for wide range of health
  issues
• Long-term negative impact for sport and arts

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• Extensive evidence overseas and in Australia
  suggests that even direct advertising has very
  little effect, if any, in encouraging people
  including juveniles to smoke. How much less then,
  would be the influence of sports sponsorships?
  (Tobacco Institute Australia, 1988)
• Banning sponsorship of sporting, cultural and
  artistic events has no effect on smoking rates.
  (Philip Morris Report, 1995)

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(No Transcript)
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Success!

• Removal of tobacco promotion from sponsorship and
  outdoor advertising
• Promotion of anti-smoking messages and targeting
  hard to reach groups
• Banned tobacco-funded research to WA universities
• High recall of health messages
• Beneficial to funding recipients

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• It would appear that Healthway has to date
  operated in an efficient and equitable manner
• (Price Waterhouse Report, 1991)

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Socially Unacceptable

• As reported in the last comprehensive review,
  the major thrusts of anti-smoking activity have
  been against flexibility of our products and
  attempting to portray smoking as socially
  unacceptable
• (Smoking and Health Report, WD HO Wills, 1981)

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• The anti-smoking movement wants to dictate how
  others should live their lives.
• (Philip Morris, Industry Issues Report, 1996)
• Smokers are made to feel increasingly alienated
  and uncomfortable. The antis regularly tell
  smokers that they are poisoning their families
  and colleagues, that if they smoke around
  children they are child abusers, that they are
  more dangerous drivers and less productive
  workers than non-smokers. In this way, the social
  acceptability of smoking is continually being
  eroded.
• (Philip Morris Corporate Affairs, 1998)

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Conclusions

• Tobacco industry awareness of health campaigns
• Tobacco industry strategies
• Tobacco control a success in Australia
• More work to be done
• Lessons from tobacco transferrable to other
  public health issues

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• The implications of Australian anti-smoking
  activity are significant outside Australia
  because Australia serves as a seedbed for
  anti-smoking programs around the world.
• (Philip Morris Australia, 1992)

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Contact Details

• Laura Bond
• Curtin University of Technology
• L.Bond_at_curtin.edu.au
• [phone]
• http//healthsciences.curtin.edu.au/watdsp/