Using tobacco industry documents, we examined how and why the tobacco industry sought to influence science and scientists in Germany as a possible factor in explaining the German opposition to ...stricter tobacco regulation. Smoking and health research programs were organized both separately by individual tobacco companies and jointly through their German trade organization. An extensive network of scientists and scientific institutions with tobacco industry links was developed. Science was distorted in 5 ways: suppression, dilution, distraction, concealment, and manipulation. The extent of tobacco industry influence over the scientific establishment in Germany is profound. The industry introduced serious bias that probably influenced scientific and public opinion in Germany. This influence likely undermined efforts to control tobacco use.
BackgroundStandardised packaging of tobacco products has been a contested policy issue in the UK since 2011. The measure would entail prohibition of brand imagery, colours and promotional text from ...tobacco products and packaging, with a key objective being to reduce youth smoking uptake. It has been opposed by transnational tobacco companies. By mapping their corporate political activity (CPA), knowledge and understanding of corporate opposition to public health measures can be deepened.MethodsQualitative content analysis of textual and visual documents where opposition to standardised packaging was expressed (n = 270), obtained via the internet using snowball sampling. Targeted media monitoring, freedom of information requests, tobacco industry document searches, and key informant interviews informed the data collection process. Organisations opposed to standardised packaging were identified from collated documents and internet searches were used to ascertain links between identified organisations and transnational tobacco companies. Documents were qualitatively coded using NVivo 10 for political activities, opposing arguments, and analysed for relationships between organisations, activities and arguments. Political science literature on CPA was used to inform interpretation of results.Results138 organisations were coded as opposing standardised packaging of tobacco products between 2011 and 2013 in the UK. The organisations with the most documents associated with them were transnational tobacco companies, and front groups, lobby groups and think tanks partly or fully funded by them (31 organisations, 165 documents). Qualitative relationships were identified between these organisations' activities and arguments: 1) external constituency building, used in public venues to promote illicit tobacco, economic impact and libertarian arguments; 2) direct lobbying, used in political venues to promote illicit tobacco and economic impact arguments and critique the policy process; 3) shaping the evidence base, used in both public and political venues to support arguments relating to illicit tobacco, economic impact, and the strength of evidence in favour of the measure; 4) constituency fragmentation, used in both public and political venues to highlight alleged weaknesses of the evidence base and flaws in the policy process.DiscussionTransnational tobacco companies have strategically funded front groups, lobby groups and think tanks, thereby creating the impression of a broad constituency against standardised packaging. The dual focus of tobacco corporations' CPA on public and political venues - 'venue-shopping' - and the multiplicity of their arguments have provided tobacco corporations with the opportunity to attract support, influence the focus of the policy debate - 'agenda-setting' - and, possibly, delay legislation aimed at improving public health in the UK.
Objectives: To identify British American Tobacco’s (BAT) reasons for targeting the former Soviet Union following its collapse in 1991 and the initial strategies BAT used to enter the region. Design: ...Analysis of tobacco industry documents held at the Guildford BAT archive. Results: Desire to expand to new markets was based in part on the decline in old markets. The large population, proximity to China, scope to expand sales to women and, in Central Asia, a young population with high growth rates made the former Soviet Union particularly attractive. High consumption rates and unfilled demand caused by previous shortages offered potential for rapid returns on investment. A series of steps were taken to penetrate the markets with the initial focus on establishing imports. The documents suggest that BAT encouraged the use of aid money and barter trade to fund imports and directed the smuggling of cigarettes which graduated from an opportunistic strategy to a highly organised operation. In establishing a market presence, promotion of BAT’s brands and corporate image were paramount, and used synonymously to promote both the cigarettes and the company. The tobacco industry targeted young people and women. It used the allure of western products to promote its brands and brand stretching and corporate imagery to pre-empt future marketing restrictions. Conclusions: BAT used the chaotic conditions in the immediate post-transition period in the former Soviet Union to exploit legislative loopholes and ensure illegal cigarette imports. Governments of countries targeted by the tobacco industry need to be aware of industry tactics and develop adequate tobacco control policies in order to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable populations. Marketing restrictions that focus on advertising without restricting the use of brand or company promotions will have a limited impact.
Objectives: To quantify the contribution the tobacco industry has made to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the former Soviet Union (FSU) as an indicator of its political and economic leverage; to ...explore the impact this has had on production capacity and tobacco control in the region. Design: Data on industry investment and its impact on cigarette production capacity were collated from industry journals, reports, and websites. Data on total FDI were obtained from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. Results: By the end of 2000, transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) had invested over US$2.7 billion in 10 countries of the FSU. Tobacco money as a proportion of FDI varies from 1% to over 30% in Uzbekistan. Cigarette production capacity in the factories receiving investments tripled from 146 to 416 billion cigarettes per annum and the TTCs’ market share has increased from nothing to between 50–100% in the markets in which they invested. Findings suggest that the effectiveness of national tobacco control measures corresponds broadly to the nature of the political and economic transition in each country and the size of industry investment, which is determined in part by the political context. Thus more effective measures tend to be seen in democratic states with smaller or no industry investments while the least effective measures are seen in highly centralised, one party states with high levels of industry investment or those with limited governmental capacity. Conclusions: The entry of the TTCs at a time of major political and economic change left the FSU particularly vulnerable to industry influence. This influence was enhanced by the industry’s significant contribution to FDI, their ability to take over existing state monopolies in all but the largest countries, and the lack of democratic opposition.
Background Standardised packaging of tobacco products has been a contested policy issue in the UK since 2011. The measure would entail prohibition of brand imagery, colours and promotional text from ...tobacco products and packaging, with a key objective being to reduce youth smoking uptake. It has been opposed by transnational tobacco companies. By mapping their corporate political activity (CPA), knowledge and understanding of corporate opposition to public health measures can be deepened. Methods Qualitative content analysis of textual and visual documents where opposition to standardised packaging was expressed (n = 270), obtained via the internet using snowball sampling. Targeted media monitoring, freedom of information requests, tobacco industry document searches, and key informant interviews informed the data collection process. Organisations opposed to standardised packaging were identified from collated documents and internet searches were used to ascertain links between identified organisations and transnational tobacco companies. Documents were qualitatively coded using NVivo 10 for political activities, opposing arguments, and analysed for relationships between organisations, activities and arguments. Political science literature on CPA was used to inform interpretation of results. Results 138 organisations were coded as opposing standardised packaging of tobacco products between 2011 and 2013 in the UK. The organisations with the most documents associated with them were transnational tobacco companies, and front groups, lobby groups and think tanks partly or fully funded by them (31 organisations, 165 documents). Qualitative relationships were identified between these organisations’ activities and arguments: 1) external constituency building, used in public venues to promote illicit tobacco, economic impact and libertarian arguments; 2) direct lobbying, used in political venues to promote illicit tobacco and economic impact arguments and critique the policy process; 3) shaping the evidence base, used in both public and political venues to support arguments relating to illicit tobacco, economic impact, and the strength of evidence in favour of the measure; 4) constituency fragmentation, used in both public and political venues to highlight alleged weaknesses of the evidence base and flaws in the policy process. Discussion Transnational tobacco companies have strategically funded front groups, lobby groups and think tanks, thereby creating the impression of a broad constituency against standardised packaging. The dual focus of tobacco corporations’ CPA on public and political venues – ‘venue-shopping’ – and the multiplicity of their arguments have provided tobacco corporations with the opportunity to attract support, influence the focus of the policy debate – ‘agenda-setting’ – and, possibly, delay legislation aimed at improving public health in the UK.
Background: Tobacco is the single largest cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world; in the former socialist bloc tobacco kills twice as many men as in the west. Although evidence shows ...that liberalisation of the cigarette trade through the elimination of import barriers leads to significant increases in consumption, far less is known about the impact of foreign direct investment on cigarette consumption. This paper seeks to explore the impact that the substantial transnational tobacco company investments have had on patterns of tobacco trade and consumption in the former Soviet Union. Design: Routine data were used to explore trends in cigarette trade and consumption in the 15 countries of the former Soviet Union from the 1960s to the present day. Comparisons were made between trends in countries that have received substantial investment from the tobacco transnationals and countries that have not. Results: Between 1991 and 2000 cigarette production increased by 96% in countries receiving industry investment and by 11% in countries that did not. Over the same period cigarette consumption increased by 40%; the increase was concentrated in countries receiving investments. Despite these investments, cigarette imports still outweigh exports and no trade surplus has yet to result. Conclusions: The findings suggest that liberalisation of inward investment has a significant and positive impact on cigarette consumption and that without appropriate safeguards, market liberalisation may have long term negative impacts on health. Specific trade rules are needed to govern trade and investment in this uniquely harmful product. Implementation of effective tobacco control policies should precede tobacco industry privatisation. International financial organisations pressing for privatisation should ensure this occurs.
Objectives: To explore how British American Tobacco (BAT), having established cigarette imports, responded to the opportunities for investment in cigarette manufacturing in the former Soviet Union ...(FSU). Design: Analysis of documents held at the BAT archive in Guildford, UK. Results: Considerable priority was attached to investing in the FSU. This led BAT to undertake a major organisational change and to intense competition to acquire assets. BAT used flawed economic arguments to persuade cash starved governments that its investment would reap economic rewards. It offered excise advice that disadvantaged governments while benefiting BAT, confused issues over pricing, and avoided competitive tendering. BAT targeted agriculture ministries, using its expertise in leaf production to differentiate itself from other potential investors. It subverted the principles of corporate social responsibility to promote itself as a business partner. BAT’s task was made easier by the naivety of post-Soviet governments and by the international financial organisations’ support for rapid economic reform. The latter permitted tobacco transnationals to penetrate markets before effective competitive tendering processes had been established, giving them the opportunity to minimise prices and establish monopolies. Conclusions: Many of the arguments employed when penetrating post-Soviet markets were highly misleading but governments lacked expertise to realise this. There is a need to build tobacco control capacity in transition economies, within and outside government, to ensure that governments are better informed of the true economic and health impacts of tobacco. Rapid transition from socialist to market economies without establishing regulatory institutional structures may be dangerous when investing companies use business practices that fall short of international standards.
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