Creating the “Desired Mindset”: Philip Morris's Efforts to Improve Its Corporate Image Among Women

Abstract

Through analysis of tobacco company documents, we explored how and why Philip Morris sought to enhance its corporate image among American women. Philip Morris regarded women as an influential group. To improve its image among women, while keeping tobacco off their organizational agendas, the company sponsored women’s groups and programs. It also sought to appeal to women it defined as “active moms” by advertising its commitment to domestic violence victims. It was more successful in securing women’s organizations as allies than active moms. Increasing tobacco’s visibility as a global women’s health issue may require addressing industry influence.

Exposing and addressing tobacco industry conduct in low-income and middle-income countries

“…,14,67–69,90,91 Many initiatives do both by exploiting LMICs’ acute need for investment in social projects. Thus, BAT sponsored community water projects and PMI sponsored education projects in tobacco farming areas of Sri Lanka, East Africa and Colombia, for example, build and maintain alliances with farming communities while simultaneously emphasising the value of the industry to social and economic development.…”

‘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

“…Publicly available internal documents have revealed that TTCs have planned to improve their corporate image for almost two decades6 and that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a significant component of the industry’s overall marketing strategy 7. This is done in various ways, including efforts to improve their image among women,8 through charitable donations,9 10 by contributing to youth prevention work,11 preventing and raising awareness of child labour11 and promoting environmental sustainability and stewardship 11–15…”

US Media Coverage of Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

“…The surge in coverage from 1998 to 1999 and 2000 may be explained by Philip Morris USA’s “Philip Morris in the 21 st Century” image improvement campaign, which featured corporate advertising focused on the company’s contributions to organizations focused on domestic violence, hunger, and disaster relief. [28, 32] In 1999, 95% of media items mentioned Philip Morris, with most coverage devoted to its involvement in food aid (56.7%) and domestic violence programs (30.0%); coverage in 2000 followed a similar pattern. Later years that saw increases in news coverage (e.g., 2007 and 2012) also focused largely on Philip Morris or Altria (e.g., in 2012, 92% of items mentioned Philip Morris and 64% mentioned Altria); however, different CSR programs received the most media attention.…”

“…[28, 32, 33, 43, 44] Two of the three components of its PM21 campaign (food aid and domestic violence programs) received the majority of news coverage in the two years after the campaign was launched, indicating that the company was successful in generating free media coverage to supplement its own PM21-related media expenditures. Indeed, the monetary value of such coverage may have exceeded the $150 million Philip Morris had spent (as of 2001) to publicize its PM21-related donations of $115 million.…”

“…[26–28] Researchers have noted that, if successful at image enhancement, CSR initiatives ultimately thwart public health progress by facilitating tobacco industry access to policymakers and influence over tobacco policymaking,[28–30] and creating new industry allies. [31, 32]…”