Ads That Attack the Tobacco Industry: A Review and Recommendations

Abstract

ABSTRACT While traditional anti-tobacco social marketing campaigns have focused on prevention and cessation, a new breed of anti-tobacco message has arisen during the last decade, which focuses on attacking the tobacco industry and its tactics. This type of anti-tobacco program has been termed a tobacco industry manipulation campaign in the United States, where it was introduced in the early 1990s. The objective of a tobacco industry manipulation campaign is to point out negative traits of the tobacco industry, including manipulative marketing strategies and tactics. Evaluations of tobacco industry manipulation campaigns have found that these ads are effective in redirecting the guilt that smokers often feel, channeling it instead into anger at being manipulated. Guidelines are provided for how social marketers can incorporate this approach within their tobacco control campaigns.