'As responsible and trustworthy as any tobacco company can be': Credibility, corporate social responsibility, and the tobacco industry

Since publication of the industry's “Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers” in 1954, “credibility” has been important to American tobacco companies. However, since the 1970s, the industry has largely lacked credibility; recent admissions by tobacco companies acknowledging that smoking causes disease have failed to improve the industry's credibility in the public's eyes. This paper examines what credibility means to the industry – why it is important to the industry, how the industry conceptualizes it, and how it is related to the concept of corporate social responsibility. The data were collected through a search of online tobacco industry document archives; data analysis involved iteratively reviewing relevant documents, categorizing themes and strategies, and summarizing findings. Results: Tobacco companies considered their lack of credibility to threaten their long-term survival; thus, they initiated numerous credibility-building projects over several decades. In doing so, they conceptualized credibility not in the classic sense of being worthy of belief or confidence, but as a matter of inspiring belief or confidence. Thus, altering public perception of the tobacco industry was the implicit goal of industry credibility projects, and "truth" was largely absent from tobacco industry conceptions of credibility. Tobacco company market research suggests that the public continues to regard the tobacco industry as untrustworthy because it conceptualizes credibility differently. But this may change under the influence of sustained tobacco industry corporate social responsibility initiatives. Public media campaigns that highlight the industry's lack of credibility and challenge its legitimacy may help prevent a softening of public opinion.