"...with a
general lengthening of the expectation of life we really need something for
people to die of. In substitution for the effects of war, poverty and
starvation, cancer, as the disease of the rich, developed countries, may have
some predestined part to play. The argument is obviously not one that the
tobacco industry could use publicly. But its weight, as a psychological factor
in perpetuating people's taste for smoking as an enjoyable if risky habit, should
not be under-estimated..."
A PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY FOR THE
TOBACCO ADVISORY COUNCIL; APPRAISAL AND PROPOSALS PREPARED BY CAMPBELL JOHNSON
LTD (British-American Tobacco Company (BAT))
Nov
20, 1978
A 1978 document,
recently made known, revealed the sleight used during that time by the tobacco
industry of the United Kingdom in order to overcome the crisis in the
sector before evidence that cigarettes were harmful: “We need something for
people to die,” said the report.
According to the
consulting agency Campbell-Johnson for the British Association of Tobacco
(BAT), tobacco consumption was functional for the Government, due to the fact
that cancer and other illnesses associated to cigarettes limited “the number of
dependent elderly that the economy must maintain.”
The document’s
author recognizes that “obviously” those arguments “cannot be used publicly,”
but he insists: “with a general increase in life expectancy, we need something
for people to die. In replacement of the effects of war, poverty, and hunger,
cancer, considered the illness of rich and developed countries, has a role to
play.”
This idea,
considered a “psychological factor in order to continue the taste people have
of smoking as something pleasant, although it may be a dangerous habit, should
not be under valuated,” the document continued.
Also, the damage
that may be caused to the industry by associating smoking with lung cancer is
recognized. “This medical challenge has acted like a nuclear bomb which will
have lasting effects” on the sector.
Another argument
used in order to defend the consumption of cigarettes indicated that the
demonization of tobacco could accompany “a relaxation before marijuana,
or an association between both substances.” Although tobacco may be a
“relaxation drug” which can be “a blessing for humanity in a stressed world,”
its association with marijuana would be harmful, insisted the document.
The document also
gave criteria for lifting the public image of cigarettes: “we still have a
margin to try to get smoking to be considered on of those habits that aren't questionable per se,” it says.
One of the actions
is to promote a code of conduct among smokers that, if followed, “would assure
they wouldn't be accused by non-smokers of arrogantly assuming the right
to contaminate the air around them.”
“Their tone has to
be frank and positive,” and one of the objectives must be to “restore the
smoker’s image as an outgoing and sociable person, and not neurotic, smelly, and
marginal as the non-smokers think,” concluded the report.
...The tactics to be followed...suggest that
every effort be made to avoid concentration on the health issue or on the
special moral stigma attached to the manufacturers for marketing a perfectly
legal product. Instead, spokesmen should...quietly insist that there is no
moral or practical necessity for the manufacturers to be explicit on this
point: consumers have all the information they need to decide the question for
themselves....Other positive points, including the connection between smoking
and social and mental relaxation, should be made whenever feasible...
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