Shared vision, shared vulnerability: A content analysis of corporate social responsibility information on tobacco industry websites

Abstract

Tobacco companies rely on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to improve their public image and advance their political objectives, which include thwarting or undermining tobacco control policies. For these reasons, implementation guidelines for the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) recommend curtailing or prohibiting tobacco industry CSR. To understand how and where major tobacco companies focus their CSR resources, we explored CSR-related content on 4 US and 4 multinational tobacco company websites in February 2014. The websites described a range of CSR-related activities, many common across all companies, and no programs were unique to a particular company. The websites mentioned CSR activities in 58 countries, representing nearly every region of the world. Tobacco companies appear to have a shared vision about what constitutes CSR, due perhaps to shared vulnerabilities. Most countries that host tobacco company CSR programs are parties to the FCTC, highlighting the need for full implementation of the treaty, and for funding to monitor CSR activity, replace industry philanthropy, and enforce existing bans.

Introduction

The tobacco industry has embraced the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the notion that corporations have an obligation to address or ameliorate their broader social and/or environmental impacts.¹ Examples of tobacco industry CSR initiatives include the creation of youth smoking prevention (YSP) programs and voluntary marketing codes,^{2, 3} and financial support for nongovernmental organizations.^{4, 5} Research has shown that tobacco industry CSR initiatives are powerful political tools, used by tobacco manufacturers to improve their public image and enhance their credibility,^{4, 6} gain access to and influence policymakers,^{4, 5, 7} avoid or weaken regulation,⁸ influence the tobacco control agenda,⁶ and create allies.^{5, 6, 9} Many tobacco company CSR initiatives originated in high income nations, particularly the US¹⁰; however, as the tobacco industry expands into low and middle income countries, it adopts strategies that have been successful in thwarting public health and creating a tobacco-favorable policy environment in higher income countries, including CSR initiatives.^{11, 12}

The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), entered into force in 2005, addresses tobacco industry CSR via Article 5.3 and Article 13.¹³ Article 5.3 cautions treaty signatories to protect tobacco control policies from “commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry”¹⁴; implementation guidelines recommend denormalizing or regulating tobacco industry CSR by, for example, prohibiting public disclosure of tobacco industry CSR projects.¹⁴ Article 13 goes further, requiring parties to ban all forms of sponsorship and explicitly defining tobacco industry CSR as such.¹⁵ Nonetheless, to date, only a small number of parties to the treaty have prohibited tobacco industry CSR as a form of sponsorship (approximately 28 of 180 nations).¹⁶

Corporate websites are one means by which tobacco companies communicate their CSR agendas and practices to a broader public. Websites are more dynamic and less expensive than traditional communication channels, and allow tobacco companies to sidestep media gatekeepers, communicating quickly and directly with various audiences–policymakers, potential employees, investors, consumers, the general public, and potential jurors.¹⁷ A small body of research has examined CSR-related material on tobacco company websites, focusing on health-related information^18–20 and image repair techniques²¹ on the Philip Morris USA website, and changes over time in statements regarding addiction on several tobacco companies’ websites.²² However, no studies have documented the full range of CSR-related content on tobacco company websites. In this paper, we examine the types of CSR programs that tobacco companies describe on their websites, highlighting similarities and differences across companies and comparing US to multinational companies. We also examine the countries where those programs take place, noting both the regions with the most concentrated CSR activities and whether countries with CSR programs are parties to the FCTC. Identifying how and where tobacco company CSR resources are concentrated can highlight those areas where the industry perceives itself to be particularly vulnerable. This, in turn, may provide insight into areas that policymakers and advocates might most usefully exploit in countering the industry or suggest programs whose credibility may be called into question (as was the case in the US with tobacco industry-sponsored YSP programs).^{2, 8, 23}

Methods

In January 2014, the first and second authors examined the websites of the 4 largest multinational tobacco companies -- British American Tobacco (BAT), Philip Morris International (PMI), Imperial Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) (which together have a global market share of 40%)²⁴ -- and the 4 largest US tobacco companies (including any parent companies) -- Philip Morris USA (PM USA), Altria (parent company of PM USA), Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), and Lorillard (which was purchased by RAI in 2014, but maintains a separate website). We excluded RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company because it offered a very cursory view of the company’s CSR activities, directing website visitors instead to its parent company, RAI. On each website, we searched for CSR-related information; an initial review of 3 websites revealed that this was typically encapsulated under a “responsibility” or “sustainability” heading on the home page. However, we also searched the websites for any mention of programs or positions that have been identified in the literature as CSR initiatives (e.g., YSP programs, acknowledgement of the health consequences of smoking)^{2, 19} regardless of where they were located on the website.

The second author downloaded CSR content from each company’s website as PDF documents in February, 2014, with each PDF representing a webpage with a unique URL. She imported the PDF documents into NVivo 9.0 for categorization of types of CSR mentioned and the countries in which CSR projects were conducted (if mentioned). In the majority of cases, the categories she used to classify types of CSR were those employed by tobacco companies (i.e., the category “domestic violence” was drawn from the PMI web page entitled “domestic violence”). However, in some cases she combined categories used by some tobacco companies into one broader category (e.g., “child labor” and other tobacco farming-related issues were merged into “supply chain”). Because categorizing this information required minimal interpretation, we did not involve a second coder or conduct a formal analysis of inter-rater reliability; however, the first author confirmed the identification and categorization of CSR programs mentioned on the websites.

In analyzing the data, we summarized CSR areas of focus for each tobacco company and the countries in which CSR programs were conducted, noting programs and regions that garnered the most tobacco company attention. We also reviewed the website text that pertained to the CSR focus areas that were universally mentioned in order to summarize qualitatively similarities and differences in companies’ approaches towards these common CSR focus areas.

Results

CSR focus areas

Tobacco company websites described a range of CSR-related activities (table 1). Four CSR focus areas were universally mentioned: YSP programs, voluntary marketing standards, acknowledgement of smoking’s health harms, and management of the tobacco supply chain. There were no programs that were unique to a particular tobacco company, although some, such as smoking cessation and domestic violence prevention, were less common across companies. With the exception of JTI, the multinational companies had more CSR-related webpages than the US companies (table 1).

Table 1.

CSR areas of focus mentioned on tobacco company websites, February 2014

CSR FOCUS	Altria	Philip Morris USA	Reynolds American	Lorillard	Philip Morris International	British American Tobacco	Imperial Tobacco	Japan Tobacco International
Youth smoking prevention	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Marketing	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Supply chain	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Acknowledgement of health harms	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Illicit trade	X	X	X		X	X	X	X
Environmenta	X	X	X		X	X	X	X
Harm reduction	X	X	X		X	X		X
Local community philanthropy	X	X	X		X		X	X
Education	X	X	X		X		X	X
Disaster relief	X	X	X		X		X	X
Hunger/poverty	X		X		X		X	X
Arts	X	X	X		X			X
Disease prevention /health promotion	X		X		X		X	X
Research funding		X			X	X
Smoking cessation		X		X
Domestic violence	X				X
Total number of CSR-related webpages	24	40	50	15	78	73	91	35

^aExcluding programs focused on the environmental impact of tobacco farming.

Universally mentioned CSR focus areas

Youth smoking prevention

Websites focused on two types of tobacco company-sponsored efforts with the ostensible goal of preventing smoking initiation among youth. The first, mentioned by all companies except Altria, consisted of financial support for the creation and maintenance of retailer-based proof-of-age programs such as We Card (US),⁸ We Expect ID (Canada), and Citizen Card (UK). The second, mentioned only by US-based companies and PMI, was support for or creation and sponsorship of tobacco educational programs for youth. Examples included RAI’s “Right Decisions Right Now” program for middle schoolers and Altria’s “Success 360°,” a partnership with a variety of youth-focused organizations.

Marketing standards

All tobacco companies stated on their websites that they limited their marketing to adults. All US companies except Altria devoted more text to the issue of marketing than multinational companies (an average of 835 words for US companies (excluding Altria), versus 172 words for multinationals). Both PM USA and RAI mentioned compliance with the US 1998 Master Settlement Agreement’s advertising restrictions (which include prohibitions on targeting youth, most forms of outdoor advertising, product placement, and branded merchandise).²⁵ In addition, PM USA stated its opposition to smoking scenes in movies and mentioned its efforts to encourage the film industry to eliminate such scenes in youth-oriented films; RAI highlighted its “stringent” age verification process for its marketing database. BAT, Imperial, and PMI discussed more general marketing principles, such as “not misleading about smoking’s risks” (BAT) and “respect[ing] global standards of decency and local cultures, traditions, and practices” (PMI).

Supply chain

As used on tobacco company websites, the term “supply chain” referred to the individuals and organizations involved in supplying materials to tobacco manufacturers. Two supply chain issues were commonly addressed by tobacco companies on their websites: child labor and the environmental impact of tobacco growing. All but two tobacco companies (RAI and JTI) addressed child labor on their websites, with most mentioning support for the Eliminating Child Labor in Tobacco Foundation, co-founded by BAT in 2000.²⁶ Imperial’s and PMI’s websites were the most expansive on the topic, discussing in detail their support for projects in Tanzania (Imperial) and Argentina (PMI) that aimed to ameliorate child labor in tobacco growing communities. Although both companies saw their support for such projects as important, they stated that governments, not corporations, ultimately were responsible for ending child labor practices.

With the exception of Lorillard, all tobacco companies discussed on their websites their efforts to minimize the negative impact of tobacco growing on the environment. (Research has shown that tobacco company efforts to “green” their supply chains started in the 2000s.)²⁷ These seven companies all mentioned their support for or promotion of sustainable agricultural practices among farmers (e.g., crop rotation, soil mulching, water conservation, and pesticide minimization). RAI was the only company to put a dollar figure to this support, noting that its subsidiary, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, had provided over $190,000 to the Carolina Farm Stewardship Program to “promote sustainable farming.” All of the multinational tobacco companies and one US company (PM USA) also discussed their financial support for reforestation programs that replaced trees cut down and used for fuel in curing tobacco leaves. A non-profit organization, “Total Land Care,” that addressed both sustainable agriculture and reforestation in several African tobacco growing countries, including Malawi, was supported by 4 tobacco companies (Imperial, JTI, PMI, and PM USA).

There was less agreement among companies on other aspects of responsible supply chain management and no real pattern in cases of agreement. For example, PM USA and its parent company Altria were the only two companies that mentioned an aspiration to contract with women and minority-owned businesses as evidence of responsible supply chain management, while Imperial and JTI were the only two to mention concerns about their suppliers’ carbon footprint. PMI was alone in its pledge to avoid purchasing genetically modified tobacco.

Smoking-caused harm

Philip Morris USA executives have acknowledged that the decision to publicly acknowledge that smoking-caused disease was driven by a desire to improve the company’s image;¹⁹ thus, we considered such website admissions to be forms of CSR. All tobacco companies mentioned that smoking caused harm to smokers. Altria’s website elaborated the least, simply stating that “Altria’s tobacco companies support several approaches to reducing the harm caused by tobacco products” without specifying the type of harm. Lorillard’s website, by contrast, noted that smoking caused “serious and fatal diseases” and listed thirty of them, including pancreatic, bladder, and renal cancer, and acute myeloid leukemia. Altria and Lorillard represented the two extremes in terms of health information provided on their websites; the remaining tobacco companies asserted, using similar language, that smoking caused “serious diseases” and listed four examples: lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and bronchitis. Only BAT followed Lorillard’s example and noted that these diseases were both serious and fatal. BAT and Imperial also noted that the link between smoking and disease had been determined by epidemiological studies, and pointed out that laboratory research conducted “over the years” (BAT) or over “decades” (Imperial) had failed to identify the particular component of cigarette smoke that caused disease. BAT stated that “[t]his means that science is still to determine which smokers will get a smoking related disease. Nor can science tell whether any individual became ill solely because they smoked.”

Tobacco companies were less consistently willing to acknowledge harms related to secondhand smoke. Five companies (Altria, PMI, PM USA, BAT, and Lorillard) stated that one or more public health authorities had concluded that secondhand smoke caused lung cancer and heart disease in nonsmoking adults, and asthma, respiratory infections, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in children. Lorillard went further, noting that “exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system” and that secondhand smoke caused both premature death and disease. Four of the companies that reported the conclusions of public health authorities (PMI, PM USA, Altria and Lorillard) advised the public to be “guided” by or “rely on” them when deciding whether to expose themselves to secondhand smoke. BAT, however, joined with Imperial and JTI in disputing the science linking secondhand smoke to disease. BAT and Imperial critiqued the epidemiological methods that underpinned the conclusion that secondhand smoking caused disease, while JTI simply stated that “[b]ased on the current science, JTI does not believe the claim has been proven that [environmental tobacco smoke] is a cause of disease such as lung cancer.” RAI’s website ignored the issue altogether, making no mention of secondhand smoke causing disease.

Location of CSR initiatives

Tobacco company websites mentioned CSR activities in 58 countries–all but 9 were parties to the FCTC (table 2). These activities exclude those, such as acknowledgement of health harms or the provision of smoking cessation information, that are restricted to tobacco company websites. Among the 58 countries mentioned were 4 countries which, according to the WHO, have prohibited tobacco industry CSR¹⁶ -- Chad, Colombia, Madagascar, and Spain -- although it is possible that the CSR projects mentioned have ended. While the 58 countries represented nearly every region of the world, the regions of North America and sub-Saharan Africa were most often mentioned. In North America, the US was the predominant site of tobacco company CSR programs, most provided by US tobacco companies. Projects varied, and included YSP and environmental programs, domestic violence prevention, and support for the arts. In Africa, multinational tobacco companies had a more consistent presence than US companies: while every multinational mentioned at least 3 CSR programs in African nations, PM USA and Altria were the only US companies with a CSR presence there, and both mentioned the same “sustainable agriculture” program in Malawi.²⁷ Imperial Tobacco accounted for the bulk of African-based CSR projects (22/38), spread among 9 countries and the region as a whole. Malawi and Tanzania attracted the most tobacco company attention, with 6 of 8 tobacco companies mentioning CSR programs in Malawi, and 4 companies mentioning programs in Tanzania. In terms of the content of CSR programs, Africa-based initiatives were less varied than those in the US: one-half of all African programs concerned tree planting and sustainable agricultural practices.

Table 2.

Tobacco company CSR projects, by country (February 2014)

Countrya	Company	Project(s)	CSR Focus Area
Argentinab	PMI	Somos Capaces (vocational training program)	Education
		Porvenir (child labor prevention)	Supply chain
Australia	BAT	Butt Free Australia	Environment
	Imperial	Keep South Australia Beautiful	Environment
		Emergency donations/Salvation Army Disaster	Disaster relief
		Youth smoking prevention	Youth smoking prevention
Bangladesh	BAT	Rice paddy curing	Supply chain
		Soil improvement	Supply chain
Brazil	BAT	Earthwatch Institute partnership	Environment
	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: environmental projects	Environment
		Altadis Foundation: education	Education
		Water conservation	Environment
Burkina Faso	Imperial	HIV/AIDS prevention	Disease prevention
Canada	Imperial	We Expect ID	Youth smoking prevention
	JTI	Computer literacy programs	Education
Canary Islands	Imperial	Employee volunteering, forest clean up	Environment
Chadc	Imperial	Water pumps	Environment
Chile	PMI	Disaster relief	Disaster relief
Colombiac	PMI	Irrigation project	Environment
		Supporting improved teaching curriculum	Education
		Renovating rural schools	Education/local community philanthropy
Cote d'Ivoire	Imperial	Vaccination program for employees	Disease prevention/health promotion
Czech Republic	JTI	Residential programs (unspecified)	Local community philanthropy
Dominican Republicd	Imperial	Sustainable tobacco growing	Supply chain
	PMI	Domestic violence prevention	Domestic violence
France	JTI	Funding for the Louvre Museum	Arts
Germany	PMI	Vocational training	Education
Greece	Imperial	Employee volunteering: tree planting	Supply chain
		Youth access prevention campaign	Youth smoking prevention
Guatemala	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: emergency relief	Disaster relief
Haitib	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: emergency relief	Disaster relief
	JTI	Disaster relief	Disaster relief
Holland	JTI	Adult literacy	Education
Honduras	Imperial	Sustainable tobacco growing	Supply chain
India	BAT	Earthwatch Institute partnership	Environment
Indonesiad	BAT	Alternative tobacco curing fuel	Supply chain
		Tree planting	Supply chain
	PMI	Conserving mangrove forests	Environment
		Farming support	Supply chain
		Disaster relief	Disaster relief
		Tree planting	Supply chain
		Youth smoking prevention	Youth smoking prevention
Italy	JTI	Support of La Scala Opera House in Milan	Arts
		Support of Teatro alla Scala Museum in Milan	Arts
Japan	Imperial	TASPO (tobacco passport)	Youth smoking prevention
	JTI	Disaster relief	Disaster relief
	PMI	Disaster relief	Disaster relief
		Domestic violence prevention	Domestic violence
Kyrgyzstan	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: education	Education
		Eliminating Child Labor in Tobacco Foundation	Supply chain
Laos	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: Mines Advisory Group	Disease prevention/health promotion
		Cooperative orthotic and prosthetic enterprise	Disease prevention/health promotion
		Altadis Foundation: economic development	Hunger/poverty
		Tree planting	Supply chain
Lithuania	PMI	Social needs TV show	Arts
Macedonia	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: social welfare	Local community philanthropy
Madagascarc	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: social welfare	Local community philanthropy
		Well digging	Environment
		Employee volunteering: tree planting	Supply chain
		Wildlife Conservation Society project	Environment
		Disaster relief	Disaster relief
Malawid	Altria	Total Land Care	Supply chain
	BAT	Alternative fuel curing barn	Supply chain
	Imperial	Total Land Care	Supply chain
		Well digging/latrines	Environment
		Eliminating Child Labor in Tobacco Foundation	Supply chain
		Opportunity International (microfinance)	Hunger/poverty
		Fuel efficient curing barn	Supply chain
	JTI	Tree planting	Supply chain
	PMI	School construction	Education
		Total Land Care	Supply chain
		Tree planting	Supply chain
	PM USA	Total Land Care	Supply chain
Mali	Imperial	Freedom from Hunger (microfinace/credit for women)	Hunger/poverty
Mexico	PMI	Fundacion Merced (hunger and poverty alleviation)	Hunger/poverty
Moroccob	Imperial	Social Responsibility in Tobacco Production	Supply chain
		Altadis Foundation: education	Education
		Employee volunteering: Clean Beaches	Environment
Mozambiqueb	Imperial	Opportunity International (microfinance)	Hunger/poverty
	PMI	Total Land Care	Supply chain
Netherlands	JTI	Support of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam	Arts
		Adult literacy scheme	Education
Nicaragua	Imperial	Sustainable tobacco growing	Supply chain
Pakistan	PMI	Disaster relief	Disaster relief
	JTI	Disaster relief	Disaster relief
Pan-Africa	Imperial	Support of the African Virtual University	Education
Philippines	Imperial	Emergency relief	Disaster relief
	PMI	Education (funding of a school-based TV program)	Education
		Tree planting	Supply chain
	JTI	Tree planting	Supply chain
Poland	Imperial	Employee volunteering: tree planting	Supply chain
	JTI	“Neighborly aid” (unspecified)	Local community philanthropy
	PMI	Assistance for the disabled	Disease prevention/health promotion
Puerto Rico	Reynolds American	Super Positivo (makes disposable ashtrays)	Environment
Republic of Congo	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: emergency relief	Disaster relief
Romania	PMI	Social Canteen Otopeni	Hunger/poverty
Russia	JTI	Support of the Marinsky Theater	Arts
	PMI	Education/teacher training	Education
Serbia	PMI	Grants to develop small businesses	Local community philanthropy
Singapore	PMI	Food from the heart	Hunger/poverty
South Korea	JTI	Computer literacy programs	Education
	PMI	Refrigerated trucks	Hunger/poverty
Spainc	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: social welfare	Hunger/poverty
		Altadis Foundation: education	Education
		Altadis Foundation: employee volunteering	Local community philanthropy
	JTI	Support of the Museo Del Prado	Arts
Sri Lanka	BAT	Sustainable leaf curing	Supply chain
		Restoring forests	Supply chain
Sub-Saharan Africa	BAT	Tropical Biology Association partnership	Environment
Sub-Saharan/Central Africa	Imperial	Malaria prevention, HIV/AIDS, clean drinking water	Disease prevention/health promotion
Switzerlandb	BAT	Portable ashtrays at music festivals	Environment
Taiwan	Imperial	Rice donation/farmland adoption	Supply chain
	JTI	Hondao Senior Citizens Welfare Foundation	Hunger/poverty
Tanzania	BAT	Alternative fuel curing barn	Supply chain
	Imperial	Oxen donation	Hunger/poverty
		Eliminating Child Labor in Tobacco Foundation	Supply chain
		Altadis Foundation: economic development	Hunger/poverty
		Crop diversification/rotation	Supply chain
	JTI	Tree planting	Supply chain
		Programs for those marginalized by society	Hunger/poverty
	PMI	Total Land Care	Supply chain
Taiwan	JTI	Hondao Senior Citizens Welfare Foundation	Disease prevention/health promotion
Thailand	PMI	Rainwater catchment tanks, “Water from Health to Wealth”	Environment
Turkey	JTI	Tree planting	Supply chain
Uganda	BAT	Sustainable forest management	Supply chain
		Forest and freshwater health	Supply chain
UK	Imperial	Keep Britain Tidy	Environment
		Employee flu vaccinations	Disease prevention/health promotion
		Employee volunteering: wildlife conservation	Environment
		Employee volunteering: Keep Britain Tidy	Environment
		Citizen Card	Youth smoking preventions
	JTI	Support for the Royal Academy of Arts	Arts
USAb	Altria	Success 360	Youth smoking prevention
		Arts funding	Arts
		Employee community fund	Local community philanthropy
		Anti-smuggling, counterfeit prevention	Illicit trade
		Sustainable agriculture	Supply chain
		Disaster relief	Disaster relief
		Consumer anti-litter	Environment
		Altria Companies Employee Community Fund: domestic violence, hunger, etc.	Domestic violence; hunger/poverty
	Lorillard	Youth Smoking Prevention program	Youth smoking prevention
		We Card	Youth smoking prevention
	PMI	Support of the Whitney Museum	Arts
		Domestic violence prevention	Domestic violence
		Doors of Hope	Domestic violence
	PM USA	Good agricultural practices	Supply chain
		Farm labor/child labor	Supply chain
		Youth smoking prevention	Youth smoking prevention
		Success 360	Youth smoking prevention
		Economic development	Local community philanthropy
		Keep America Beautiful	Environment
		Arts and culture	Arts
		"Other focused giving"	Unknown
		Disaster relief	Disaster relief
		We Card	Youth smoking prevention
		Grants to school and youth programs	Education
	Reynolds American	Boy Scouts badge	Youth smoking prevention
		“Right decisions, right now”	Youth smoking prevention
		Cigarette butt litter recycling program	Environment
		Arts Council of Winston-Salem	Arts
		Reynolds American Foundation education scholarships	Education
		Tobacco supply chain	Supply chain
		Carolina Farm Steward Foundation	Supply chain
		Land donation	Local community philanthropy
		Crosby Scholars Program, youth tobacco prevention	Education; youth smoking prevention
		Tree planting	Environment
		Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company Foundation: American Indian college scholarships, leadership training	Education
		Donations to arts organizations	Arts
		Food banks	Hunger/poverty
		College scholarships	Education
		Red Cross	Disaster relief
		Habitat for Humanity	Hunger/poverty
		American Snuff Company Charitable Trust: Ronald McDonald House, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Special Olympics	Disease prevention/health promotion
		United Way	Local community philanthropy
		Carolina Farm Stewardship Association	Supply chain
		We Card	Youth smoking prevention
Uzbekistan	BAT	Sustainable agriculture	Supply chain
Vietnam	BAT	Rice paddy curing	Supply chain
	Imperial	Altadis Foundation: environmental projects	Environment
		Altadis Foundation: Project Symphony (building	Hunger/poverty
		homes)
		Altadis Foundation: social welfare	Hunger/poverty
		Employee volunteering: tree planting	Supply chain
West Africa	Imperial	Vaccinations	Disease prevention/health promotion
Zimbabwe	BAT	Alternative fuel curing barn	Supply chain

^aUnless otherwise indicated, countries are parties to the FCTC

^bCountries that have signed but not ratified the FCTC

^cCountries that have prohibited tobacco industry CSR

^dCountries that are neither signatories nor parties to the FCTC

Discussion

Tobacco companies had similar conceptualizations of some of the basic elements of CSR – YSP programs, supply chain management, voluntary marketing standards, and an acknowledgement of some of smoking’s harms. Within each common focus area, however, there were some differences between individual companies and between US and multinational companies. US companies appeared to be more concerned than multinational companies about the issue of youth smoking, mentioning more comprehensive YSP programs and voluntary marketing practices whose ostensible goals were to minimize youth smoking. In addition, US companies, unlike their multinational counterparts, were less likely to dispute the science linking secondhand smoke to disease and death. These differences may reflect the particular legal and/or social environments in which companies operate. For example, although the tobacco industry as a whole has faced criticism for marketing to children, in the US, this criticism has been particularly acute, forming the basis in the late 1990s of an unsuccessful effort to regulate tobacco as a drug and an agreement by manufacturers to eliminate certain types of marketing.²⁸ Similarly, some US tobacco companies agreed in the late 1990s to no longer publicly debate smoking and health issues even if they disagreed with public health authorities.²⁹ Nonetheless, multinational companies appear to recognize that they share some of the same vulnerabilities as US companies, since they made some effort to address the issue of youth smoking and smoking’s harms. Drawing public attention to these issues and the contradictions they raise (for example, claiming not to want kids to smoke while continuing to engage in marketing practices that appeal to youth) may help undermine the credibility that tobacco companies seek to advance through CSR.

Among the 58 countries that hosted tobacco industry CSR projects, the vast majority were parties to the FCTC, a reflection of the low rate of adoption among FCTC signatories of the CSR restrictions recommended by Articles 5.3 and 13.¹⁶ The presence of numerous sub-Saharan African nations among these countries is particularly worrisome, given the growing importance of Africa as a regional market for tobacco products: in the coming decades, the African continent is expected to have the largest increase in smoking prevalence, absent any intervention.³⁰ CSR is one strategy that can help tobacco companies undermine effective tobacco control interventions.¹² It may also help reinforce African countries’ commitment to tobacco growing. Malawi and Tanzania, the two African nations mentioned most often as CSR recipients, are among the top 20 global producers of tobacco leaf, and the crop plays an important role in both countries’ economies.³¹ Tobacco company tree planting and sustainable agricultural programs may help create or deepen alliances with local farmers, and deflect attention from the ongoing negative environmental impacts of tobacco growing.³²

Some reluctance on the part of low and middle income nations to prohibit tobacco industry CSR may stem from dependence on tobacco industry philanthropy for social services that the government is unlikely to provide.⁶ A dedicated tax on tobacco companies would help overcome this hurdle.⁶ For tobacco growing nations, intervention by tobacco control advocates is likely to be challenging, as witnessed by the difficulties faced by FCTC parties in addressing the issue of alternative crops;³³ however, creating and sustaining alliances with environmental organizations (who have not accepted industry funds)⁵ could add to the number of voices drawing attention to tobacco growing’s environmental hazards.

Our finding that tobacco company websites advertised CSR projects in a handful of countries that have formally banned tobacco industry CSR highlights the importance of monitoring and enforcing such bans. Some governments may rely on a few underfunded tobacco control advocacy organizations to monitor and report tobacco company violations of the ban on CSR. Public and private funders of tobacco control initiatives should consider supporting programs to monitor CSR activity and legally enforce CSR bans. In cases where a dedicated tax on tobacco companies is not implemented as part of a CSR ban, they should also consider providing equivalent replacement resources for unmet needs.

Study limitations

Although we conducted a comprehensive search for CSR-related content on tobacco company websites, it is possible that we failed to capture some relevant content, particularly if it was not linked to a “responsibility” or “sustainability” heading and had not previously been identified as a CSR or public relations initiative. Moreover, it is unlikely that tobacco companies mentioned on their websites all of their CSR projects and every country in which the projects were located; thus, our findings represent a conservative estimate of the companies’ CSR practices and locations.

Conclusions

Tobacco company websites reveal a shared vision of how tobacco companies define “responsibility”: declaring an interest in reducing youth smoking, claiming to ameliorate some of the conditions under which tobacco is grown, stating that their marketing was limited to adults, and acknowledging some of smoking’s harms. The number and global reach of tobacco company CSR programs suggests not only that tobacco companies regard them as essential demonstrations of “responsibility,” but also that they help accomplish the tobacco industry’s political objectives. Full implementation of the FCTC’s guidelines concerning tobacco industry CSR, which would involve prohibiting tobacco industry CSR as a form of sponsorship, is essential to block this avenue of influence.

Highlights.

• Multinational and US tobacco company websites contain CSR information.

• There appears to be broad agreement across companies on what constitutes CSR.

• Tobacco company websites mentioned CSR activities in 58 countries.

• One-half of all African-based CSR programs were related to tobacco farming.