‘We have a rich heritage and, we believe, a bright future’: how transnational tobacco companies are using Twitter to oppose policy and shape their public identity

Watts, Christina; Hefler, Marita; Freeman, Becky

doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-054188

Cited by 33 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…66,67 Similar to youth in other LMICs where there is also rapid infrastructural development, Fijian youth have increasing access to relevant social media exposures that may not be adequately regulated by provisions within the WHO FCTC. 15,[68][69][70] Available GYTS data demonstrate that over a quarter of school-going youth in Fiji had seen videos on the internet in the past month that made smoking tobacco look fun or cool in 2016. 28 Such social media access may also increase exposure to and salience of peerbased norms, the impacts of this heightened exposure will need to be monitored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Norms and Smoking Risk in iTaukei Fijian Adolescent Women

Gerbasi

Gilman

Bitton

et al. 2019

Health Behavior and Policy Review

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Objective-To investigate the association of a variety of social smoking exposures with cigarette smoking among iTaukei adolescent women in Fiji. Methods-Self-report data were collected in a representative sample of school-going iTaukei adolescent women (n=523). We fitted logistic regression models of current cigarette smoking with school, peer, media, and other social exposures to smoking as predictors. Results-Current cigarette smoking was associated with exposure to close friend, peer, and routine social smoking as well as higher prevalence of school peer smoking, but not parent tobacco use and media smoking exposures-in our fully adjusted model. Conclusions-Peer and school-based smoking exposures may increase cigarette smoking risk in school-going iTaukei adolescent women and may be strategic interventional targets to augment existing preventive approaches.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Norms and Smoking Risk in iTaukei Fijian Adolescent Women

Gerbasi

Gilman

Bitton

et al. 2019

Health Behavior and Policy Review

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“…The coding was recorded in Microsoft Excel (Excel 2016, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington, USA). This form of content analysis is common in health research, and has also been used frequently in the analysis of corporate communications, for example as part of policy debates [36,37,38]. The analysis and reporting adheres to guidance on the collection, analysis and presentation of Twitter data [39].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol Industry CSR Organisations: What Can Their Twitter Activity Tell Us about Their Independence and Their Priorities? A Comparative Analysis

Maani

Schalkwyk

Thomas

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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There are concerns about the accuracy of the health information provided by alcohol industry (AI)-funded organisations and about their independence. We conducted a content analysis of the health information disseminated by AI-funded organisations through Twitter, compared with non-AI-funded charities, to assess whether their messages align with industry and/or public health objectives. We compared all tweets from 2016 from Drinkaware (UK); Drinkaware.ie (Ireland); and DrinkWise (Australia), to non-AI-funded charities Alcohol Concern (UK), Alcohol Action Ireland, and FARE (Australia). Industry-funded bodies were significantly less likely to tweet about alcohol marketing, advertising and sponsorship; alcohol pricing; and physical health harms, including cancers, heart disease and pregnancy. They were significantly more likely to tweet about behavioural aspects of drinking and less likely to mention cancer risk; particularly breast cancer. These findings are consistent with previous evidence that the purpose of such bodies is the protection of the alcohol market, and of the alcohol industry’s reputation. Their messaging strongly aligns with AI corporate social responsibility goals. The focus away from health harms, particularly cancer, is also consistent with previous evidence. The evidence does not support claims by these alcohol-industry-funded bodies about their independence from industry.

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“…However, inaccuracies or embellishments in original media releases can easily be reproduced as fact in news media articles [36,37]. As PMI has attempted to rebuild its public reputation through public relations and social media strategies [18-20], it was essential to examine whether the media releases from PMI and the FSFW resulted in additional news articles and whether or not these news articles were reproduced verbatim or published with the same or a conflicting angle. The 4 media releases from the FSFW and 1 from PMI did not result in a large response in Web-based and print news media, with only 3 articles reproduced verbatim from the media release.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ways in which news events and issues are reported can influence how the target audience thinks, feels, and decides, and facts can be slanted to a particular side with tone, charisma, and rhetoric [17]. As PMI’s involvement with the FSFW aligns with their repeated efforts to rebuild a positive public reputation [18-20], it is likely that both PMI and FSFW have an interest in how the FSFW and affiliated research and programs are portrayed in the news media. At the heart of PMI’s objective to rebrand itself as a company dedicated to a “smoke-free future,” is an effort to shift public sentiment and ultimately, shape and influence the tobacco policy agenda [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire”: A Content Analysis of Print and Web-Based News Media Reporting of the Philip Morris–Funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World

Watts¹,

Freeman²

2019

JMIR Public Health Surveill

Self Cite

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Background In September 2017, the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), a not-for-profit organization with a core purpose “to accelerate global efforts to reduce deaths and harm from smoking” was launched. However, the legitimacy of the FSFW’s vision has been questioned by experts in tobacco control because of the organization’s only funding partner, Philip Morris International (PMI). Objective This study aimed to examine the response to the FSFW in Web-based and print news media to understand how the FSFW and its funding partner, PMI, were framed. Methods News articles published within a 6-month period after the FSFW was announced were downloaded via Google News and Factiva and coded for topic, framing argument, slant, mention of tobacco control policies, and direct quotes or position statements. Results A total of 124 news articles were analyzed. The news coverage of the FSFW was framed by 6 key arguments. Over half of the news articles presented a framing argument in opposition to the FSFW (64/124, 51.6%). A further 20.2% (25/124) of articles framed the FSFW positively and 28.2% of articles (35/124) presented a neutral debate with no primary slant. The FSFW was presented as not credible because of the funding link to PMI in 29.0% (36/124) of articles and as a tactic to mislead and undermine effective tobacco control measures in 11.3% of articles (14/124). However, 12.9% of articles (16/124) argued that the FSFW or PMI is part of the solution to reducing the impact of tobacco use. Evidence-based tobacco control policies were mentioned positively in 66.9% (83/124) of news articles and 9.6% (12/124) of articles presented tobacco control policies negatively. Conclusions The Web-based and print news media reporting of the formation of the FSFW and its mission and vision has primarily been framed by doubt, skepticism, and disapproval.

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‘We have a rich heritage and, we believe, a bright future’: how transnational tobacco companies are using Twitter to oppose policy and shape their public identity

Cited by 33 publications

References 24 publications

Social Norms and Smoking Risk in iTaukei Fijian Adolescent Women

Social Norms and Smoking Risk in iTaukei Fijian Adolescent Women

Alcohol Industry CSR Organisations: What Can Their Twitter Activity Tell Us about Their Independence and Their Priorities? A Comparative Analysis

“Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire”: A Content Analysis of Print and Web-Based News Media Reporting of the Philip Morris–Funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World

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