Big Tobacco’s Dirty Tricks

Since its inception, the tobacco industry has been at the forefront of influencing public opinion and disrupting health policy through various sophisticated and deceptive methods. As evidence has mounted supporting the undisputed deadly effects of tobacco products, the industry has found ways to adapt and thrive. They have succeeded in attracting enough new smokers to support industry growth despite losing eight million of their consumers annually to tobacco-related deaths. The sphere of influence of multi-billion dollar tobacco companies extends to the fields of scientific research, politics, law, education, and the media.

The WFPHA Tobacco Control Working Group has published a casebook entitled Big Tobacco’s Dirty Tricks: A Casebook of Seven Key Tactics Used by the Tobacco Industry which contains seven articles discussing key tactics used by tobacco corporations to improve their brand, hinder their opponents, and undermine tobacco control measures globally. The cases provide insights into the industry’s methods as they trick, manipulate, bribe, and threaten in the eternal quest for profit. Each article outlines a particular tactic, demonstrates examples where it has occurred, and offers recommendations for how individuals, professionals, organizations and governments can recognize and counteract them.

To evaluate readers’ feedback on the articles and investigate attitudes toward the tobacco industry tactics, a brief survey is provided. The quick anonymous survey can be accessed with the link below.

The more informed our society is about the tactics used by Big Tobacco, the better chance we have of effectively imposing tobacco control measures, reducing consumption globally and preventing tobacco-related illness and death.