261442 Understanding and Combatting Evolving Tobacco Personal Responsibility Messaging

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM

Lissy C. Friedman, JD , Public Health Advocacy Institute, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA
Mark A. Gottlieb, JD , at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, Public Health Advocacy Institute, Boston, MA
     
The tobacco industry continues to use strategic messaging about “personal responsibility” and “freedom of choice” to protect its interests in the marketplace, against litigation and regulation.

The messaging is deceptive in that it ignores the role of addiction, marketing ploys and disinformation campaigns which undercut free choice.

Used in litigation, “freedom of choice” means that those who smoked are to blame for their injuries (e.g., “assumption of the risk”). In the industry's larger public relations (PR) messages, it means that smokers have a right to choose to smoke, free from regulation or interventions to reduce consumption.

Trial transcripts of 2011 trials and historical internal tobacco industry documents were carefully reviewed to understand the defendants' strategies.

The industry's litigation strategy has influenced its greater PR message, shifting responsibility for the harmful effects of tobacco products onto consumers. Comprehension of this strategy will furnish advocates with ammunition for counter-marketing strategies.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Identify evidence and knowledge about how the tobacco industry’s use of litigation rhetoric influenced its wider public relations strategies, which can be used for constructing effective counter-marketing campaigns and supporting tobacco control interventions and regulations.

Keywords: Tobacco Litigation, Tobacco Industry

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an attorney who has studied and published findings based on analysis of tobacco industry litigation and internal documents for more than a decade.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4084.0: Ongoing & Escalating Tobacco Industry Interference