Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #120997

Mitchell Zeller, JD, Pinney Associates, 3 Bethesda Metro Center, Suite 1400, Bethesda, MD 20814, 301-718-8440, mzeller@pinneyassociates.com

Like many large companies, Philip Morris has had a charitable giving and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program in place for many years. What are some of the motivations behind the creation and funding for these efforts? How does charitable giving and CSR relate to other external efforts by Philip Morris? The publicly available internal Philip Morris documents provide insights into the answers to these important questions. A review of the internal documents reveals that charitable giving and CSR are part of a broader and systematic effort by Philip Morris to re-shape public perception of the company. In their own words, the documents make clear that Philip Morris' reputation had plummeted in the early 1990's. A calculated effort to reverse that trend was undertaken, with simultaneous programs dedicated to youth smoking prevention, charitable giving, CSR, harm reduction, and support of tobacco product regulation. This presentation will review the relevant internal Philip Morris documents that describe the motivations behind the charitable giving and CSR programs.

Learning Objectives:

• See abstract

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.