Highbrow Magazine - tobacco industry https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/tobacco-industry en The Unfair $23 Billion Tobacco Verdict https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4167-unfair-billion-tobacco-verdict <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 07/24/2014 - 10:15</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4smoking%20%28Kanaka%20Menehune%20Flickr%29_0.jpg?itok=UmXyriTq"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/4smoking%20%28Kanaka%20Menehune%20Flickr%29_0.jpg?itok=UmXyriTq" width="480" height="288" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/">FirstPost</a> and our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/07/the-unfair-23-billion-tobacco-verdict-time-for-smokers-to-stop-playing-dumb.php">New America Media</a>:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Commentary</strong></p> <p> <br /> I do not smoke, never have, but one of the first accessories I bought when I moved into my apartment in Kolkata were ashtrays.<br /> <br /> In India I am used to being in a group where I am the only person not smoking. Without ashtrays in the house a social life seemed impossible. I have hung out with friends in a bar where everyone is lighting up under a No Smoking sign. No one gives me a hard time for being “uncool” and not smoking but I have emerged with my eyes stinging and my clothes reeking of second-hand smoke.<br /> <br /> It’s not pleasurable. I am not a fan of smoking by any means. I used to piously refuse to bring back the duty-free allowance of cigarette cartons for smoking friends and relatives whenever I went abroad.<br /> <br /> But cribbing about second-hand smoke feels like some kind of first-world affectation here, though even the Indian Supreme Court has taken note of it.<br /> <br /> However, even I had to balk when I read that a jury in Florida has awarded $23 billion to the family of a smoker who died of lung cancer in 1996. Cynthia Robinson sued RJ Reynolds, the company that brings us Winston, Camel and Pall Mall, arguing that the company concealed the dangers of smoking that led to the death of her husband, Michael Johnson. He smoked between one and three packs a day for more than 20 years and died of lung cancer.<br /> <br /> “He couldn’t quit. He was smoking the day he died,” her lawyer told <a href="http://rt.com/usa/174212-tobacco-smoking-compensation-damages/">Reuters</a>.<br /> <br /> It’s a tragic story. But the catch is Johnson died at the age of 36. So for much of his life he must have known full well the dangers of smoking. From 1966, packets in the US warned smoking may be hazardous to health. From 1970 it became a more definitive "The Surgeon General Has Determined that Cigarette Smoking is Dangerous to Your Health". That Johnson could not quit his addiction is a different matter. But the verdict is clearly less about Johnson’s tragedy as it is about teaching cigarette companies a lesson for peddling a vice. Last August another jury in Florida awarded damages of $37.5 million to the family of another smoker who died of lung cancer at the age of 38.<br /> <br /> We do not have to shed tears of sympathy for tobacco companies who have fought long and hard against health advisories linking tobacco smoking to diseases like lung cancer. They have played plenty of dirty games to keep the consumer as deluded as possible for a long time.<br /> <br /> In 1953, the CEOs of the major tobacco companies met secretly in New York City and paid to publish a “Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers” in 448 newspapers on January 4, 1954 claiming that an “interest in people’s health” was “paramount to every other consideration in our business.” It was <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2879177/">pure baloney</a> meant to literally blow smoke in the eyes of the public. In the 1970s an internal <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ict68d00/pdf">memo</a> at R J Reynolds showed the company banked on the fact that 18-year-olds feel immortal and might even see defying a warning label as an act of daring.<br /> <br /> But the duplicity and charades of tobacco giants does not mean the rest of us are just unwitting lambs who have been led to the slaughter.<br /> <br /> In this day and age it is impossible to say that someone who is smoking is unaware of the damage they are doing to their lungs.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/4smoking.jpg" style="height:349px; width:625px" /><br />  </p> <p>The no-smoking zone has been ever-increasing shepherding smokers into little ghettos. We can roll our eyes at the heavy-handed nanny state measures countries like India take to hammer home the anti-smoking message. From the gory graphic illustrations of diseased organs on cigarette packs to the annoying anti-smoking advisories that pop up on film screens every time someone lights up – we are bombarded by anti-smoking messages all the time. It reaches farcical levels when a Woody Allen refuses to allow <em>Blue Jasmine</em> to screen in India with the No Smoking messages stuck on screen like Band Aids.<br /> <br /> We can argue about whether this preachy finger-wagging messaging is effective at all. But we cannot pretend we have not seen it. There is really no two ways to interpret a message as bald as Smoking Kills especially when it’s splayed across 40 percent of the front of the packet.<br /> <br /> Our government, however, has a love-hate relationship with tobacco. That’s one tax the government never has any qualms about raising. It’s that rare creature – a legal vice and therefore it’s not politically correct to complain about taxing it.<br /> <br /> On the day he assumed office as India’s Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan demanded higher taxes on tobacco products. Arun Jaitley said they did not want to burden the common man in his budget. So duties on day-to-day items remained largely the same. Some things such as smaller LED/LCD TVs, RO-based water purifiers, soaps and laptops actually became cheaper. But the excise duty on cigarettes went up. He did exempt bidis against Dr. Harsh Vardhan’s wishes.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2692024/QUANTUM-LEAP-Tobacco-taxation-wont-make-difference-unless-includes-bidis.html">The Daily Mail</a> says <em>bidis</em> account for 85 percent of tobacco smoked in India. While it’s mostly the poor who smoke bidis, it does not mean they have less health damage. The economic burden of tobacco-related illnesses is about one <em>lakh crore</em> rupees or 1.04 percent of the GDP.<br /> <br /> While one arm of the government tells us not to smoke, another arm considers tobacco as the goose that lays its golden eggs. When the West Bengal government was grappling with the fallout of the Saradha chit fund scam, Mamata Banerjee decided to increase the tax on cigarettes by 10 percent to help compensate some of the desperate investors.<br /> <br /> In inimitable Mamata style she told  the state’s smokers to do their bit to help their brothers and sisters. "It wouldn't harm if you smoke some more. Do that and we will be able to collect the required amount quickly.”<br /> <br /> Sometimes it feels like the government is more interested in taxing tobacco rather than eliminating tobacco use.<br /> <br /> Tobacco companies have done their utmost to glamorize smoking. There is a sexiness that is associated with that dangling cigarette or that perfect ring of smoke. That appeal still remains. The <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-home-to-second-highest-number-of-women-smokers-globally/articleshow/28548597.cms">number of cigarette smokers</a> in India has risen from 74.5 million in 1980 to 110.2 million in 2012. India is now home to the second-highest number of women smokers even as smoking prevalence among men has gone down. The quit rate in India is low at less than 20 percent.<br /> <br /> This is a problem, no ifs and butts about it.<br /> <br /> But to stub out that cigarette we cannot just raise the excise duty on it or sue for tobacco companies for millions. Somewhere along the line ,we also need to look in the mirror. Personal choice must count for something.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.firstpost.com/">FirstPost</a> and our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2014/07/the-unfair-23-billion-tobacco-verdict-time-for-smokers-to-stop-playing-dumb.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/smoking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">smoking</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/lung-cancer" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">lung cancer</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cigarettes" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cigarettes</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/smoking-cigarettes" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">smoking cigarettes</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/second-hand-smoke" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">second hand smoke</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tobacco" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tobacco</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tobacco-industry" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tobacco industry</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sandip Roy</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 24 Jul 2014 14:15:16 +0000 tara 5000 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/4167-unfair-billion-tobacco-verdict#comments PepsiCo.’s Donation to Media Organization Raises Questions About Ethics https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1484-pepsico-s-donation-media-organization-raises-questions-about-ethics <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 08/22/2012 - 17:39</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumPepsi.jpg?itok=yxC97Dki"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumPepsi.jpg?itok=yxC97Dki" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/08/what-is-pepsico-buying-with-donations-to-communities-of-color.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Op-Ed</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> When I heard recently that the National Association of Hispanic Journalists had accepted $100,000 from PepsiCo, with half of the money going toward scholarships and internships for journalism students, I was taken back to 1988 and a smoke-filled hotel conference room in Washington D.C.</p> <p>  </p> <p> I had just been elected to NAHJ's board of directors, and we were debating whether or not to accept a sizeable contribution from tobacco giant Philip Morris.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "I don't have any problems with Philip Morris," I remember a fellow board member saying after she took a deep drag from her cigarette, clearly ignoring the irony.</p> <p>  </p> <p> I said something about it not being a good idea while puffing on a Benson &amp; Hedges Deluxe Ultra Light Menthol 100. Several of us were smoking while we discussed the subject.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Like tobacco use, rising consumption of sugary drinks has become a major public health concern. Studies show that soda, sports drinks and other high-calorie beverages are major contributors to obesity and related illnesses including diabetes and heart disease (research shows diet drinks aren't all that good for you either).</p> <p>  </p> <p> And like the tobacco industry, soft drink companies target young people and communities of color -- groups that suffer the highest rates of obesity-related diseases.</p> <p>  </p> <p> I don't know whether anyone on the NAHJ board or staff pointed out the parallels between the generous Philip Morris and PepsiCo gifts. Or whether there was even any debate about accepting the money. These are tough times, especially for the journalism industry.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Yet, just like taking money from tobacco, accepting funding from the soda industry can put organizations like NAHJ on a slippery slope, with the potential to risk their values, integrity and public trust.</p> <p>  </p> <p> There are other parallels between tobacco and soda, as highlighted in a June 19 <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001241#aff2">report</a> by Berkeley Media Studies Group and the Public Health Advocacy Institute, "Soda and Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns: How Do They Compare?"</p> <p>  </p> <p> "Because sugary beverages are implicated in the national as well as global obesity crisis, soda manufacturers have recently employed elaborate, expensive, multinational corporate social responsibility campaigns [that] echo the tobacco industry's use of such campaigns as a way to focus responsibility on consumers rather than on the corporations," the study noted.</p> <p>  </p> <p> These campaigns also seek to bolster the popularity of soda companies and their products and prevent regulation (meanwhile employing <a href="http://corporationsandhealth.org/2012/08/08/more-on-new-york-city-soda-limits-proposal/">tobacco industry tactics</a> in aggressively fighting policy proposals such as soda taxes and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial measure to limit sugary drink portion sizes).</p> <p>  </p> <p> In a press release, PepsiCo announced that the NAHJ contribution was part of La Promesa [The Promise] of PepsiCo, a corporate social responsibility campaign "that focuses specifically on Latino empowerment and the issues that matter most to Hispanics including Latino education, employment opportunities, promoting active lifestyles, and investing in science to develop healthier products."</p> <p>  </p> <p> As part of its "Promesa," PepsiCo also made significant contributions to other national Latino organizations including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and historic civil rights groups League of United Latin American Citizens and National Council of La Raza.</p> <p>  </p> <p> One only has to watch the latest TV commercial by the American Beverage Association, which represents PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, to see that they are doing everything they can to convince the public -- and their shareholders -- of their corporate social responsibility.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Titled <a href="http://www.ameribev.org/news--media/videos--multimedia/22/">"We're Delivering,"</a> the ad touts the beverage industry's role in addressing the nation's obesity crisis (without really saying so): "For our families, our neighbors and our communities, America's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices, developing smaller portion sizes, and more low and no-calorie beverages. Adding clearer calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing. And in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower calorie options."</p> <p>  </p> <p> The problem is that despite the fact that beverage companies in the U.S. spent nearly a half-billion dollars in 2006 to market directly to children, and each year, youth are exposed to hundreds of TV and digital ads, the beverage industry aggressively rejects claims that its products and marketing practices play any role in the obesity epidemic.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The beverage industry says it's about consumers making poor choices and not increasing their level of physical activity, yet ignores the context in which those decisions are made. It is disingenuous and deceptive to deny the contribution sugary drinks make to the obesity epidemic. It fails to recognize the collaboration it will take between industry, government and consumers to solve the obesity crisis.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Meanwhile, the question remains: Should influential organizations representing the media, elected officials and civil rights advocates receive financial support from soda if it means not holding the industry accountable for its part in the obesity problem as well as the solution?</p> <p>  </p> <p> I know that if I were back on the board of NAHJ, an organization I am proudly a lifetime member of, I would at least put it up for discussion -- admittedly between sips of Diet Coke.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Fernando Quintero provides media advocacy training and strategic consultation for Berkeley Media Studies Group. He is a former print journalist and has also served as a communications strategist for the University of California, Berkeley and several nonprofit groups.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/pepsico" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">PepsiCo</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/national-association-hispanic-journalists" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">National Association of Hispanic Journalists</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/soda" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">soda</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obesity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">obesity</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tobacco-industry" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tobacco industry</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/philip-morris" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Philip Morris</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/coca-cola" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Coca Cola</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diet-coke" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diet coke</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/minorities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">minorities</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Fernando Quintero</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:39:56 +0000 tara 1438 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1484-pepsico-s-donation-media-organization-raises-questions-about-ethics#comments