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ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, AND SPONSORSHIP

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR ) promotes the view that “firms should strive to make a profit, obey the law, be ethical, and be a good corporate citizen.”2 Tobacco companies, however, are not like other companies. Tobacco is the only consumer product that kills one half of its users when used as directed.1 The idea that tobacco companies can be ethical while promoting a disease-producing product is fundamentally contradictory. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC ), the world’s first global public health treaty, establishes a policy framework aimed to reduce the devastating health, economic, and social impacts of tobacco.3 Article 13 of the FCTC requires Parties to implement and enforce a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, including a complete ban on CSR.4

“ These tobacco industry programs that seek to contribute to a greater social good urge the question: how can tobacco companies reconcile their main aim, to gain a maximum profit by producing and selling a deadly product, with the goals of Corporate Social Responsibility:business norms, based on ethical values and respect for employees, consumers, communities and the environment?” World Health Organization, 20031

TOBACCO COMPANIES ENGAGE IN CSR TO PROMOTE COMPANY INTERESTS

Tobacco companies claim that they engage in CSR because they are concerned corporate citizens. However, tobacco company internal documents reveal the true goals of industrysponsored programs, which are to boost profits and drive company interests.5, 6 In reality, CSR activities cost tobacco companies very little in relation to their annual profits. For example, in 2009, Philip Morris International (PMI ) charitable contributions amounted to USD $22.7 million, while its profits were USD $6.3 billion, and British American Tobacco (BAT ) spent USD $22.3 million on CSR compared to the USD $4.8 billion it earned in...