In the 1950s, smoking was one of the most popular pastimes around the world; Around 80 per cent of adults in the UK cut their teeth regularly.
Cigarettes were the epitome of Hollywood sophistication and glamor and were popularized by film icons such as James Dean and Audrey Hepburn.
But for big tobacco companies, problems awaited the first studies suggesting a link between smoking and cancer.
To protect its enormous profits, the tobacco industry financed the first modern and sophisticated lobbying operation designed to influence policy and public opinion.
In the second half of the 20th centuryeFor centuries, these legislative backchannels helped protect tobacco industry profits, long after the cancer link was finally made in a landmark 1964 report.
If I These well-planned lobbying operations are reportedly still trying to exert significant influence on current government policy, this time with the aim of blocking Rishi Sunak’s planned ban on the sale of cigarettes to future generations.
The modern industry lobbying organization in the UK is the Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA).
Its origins date back to the founding of the Tobacco Manufacturers Standing Committee (TMSC) in the 1950s, which was later renamed the Tobacco Advisory Council (TAC) in the 1970s and then eventually evolved into today’s TMA.
In the 1950s, TMSC was founded by British tobacco companies, including Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco, with the aim of “promoting research into smoking and health problems”.
In 1954, TMSC paid £250,000 for a Medical Research Council study into the link between cancer and smoking.
“Dissatisfied” with the results of this independent investigation, they paid £1 million for a new investigation, which made “excessively disguised attempts” to destroy the links, according to a contemporary report from 1957.
It claimed that in a typical western city, during the course of a day, the same amount of harmful chemicals are inhaled from fresh air as from 40 cigarettes.
As the 1960s and 1970s progressed and smoking deaths continued to rise, tactics changed towards more direct attempts to influence legislators in Westminster.
The lobbying group, now known as TAC, organized regular meetings between tobacco companies and government officials.
The country also hosted cocktails and parliamentary dinners for industry executives to meet MPs and Lords, ironically in many of Westminster’s smoky back rooms and pubs, according to research from the University of Bath.
TAC increasingly focused its lobbying efforts on the growing connection between secondhand smoke and health outcomes, and its tactics became even more sophisticated in the 1980s and 1990s, using leading public relations firms.
It was not until 1993 that the TAC, in a letter, invited member companies to a meeting to discuss tactics to refute “junk science” evidence.
The influence of lobbying by big tobacco companies was perhaps best demonstrated in Formula One’s fight against a ban on tobacco advertising.
While sports such as cricket, snooker and horse racing were stripped of their sponsorship by the tobacco giants, Formula One managed to retain smoking revenues until the end of 2006.
In 2008, it was revealed that former Prime Minister Tony Blair personally intervened to secure Formula One’s exemption from the tobacco advertising ban just hours after meeting sports boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Ecclestone’s sport has profited for decades from the millions of dollars flowing into Formula One through tobacco advertising and has also been a major sponsor of the Labor Party.
There was also active lobbying for a workplace smoking ban, commonly referred to as a cafe smoking ban.
The law was passed in 2007 despite strong opposition from big tobacco companies and the hospitality industry.
Under the threat of a violent mass uprising, both major parties were forced to offer their MPs a free vote on the issue.
A House of Lords report published at the time the bill was passed also accused the government of overreacting to the threat of second-hand smoke.
Big Tobacco’s tactics of portraying itself as objective in protecting the health of its customers have continued into this century.
In May 2012, the TMA launched a plain packaging postcards campaign in response to the government’s consultation on standardized packaging.
In 2013, British American Tobacco confirmed that it had provided financial support for the campaign through TMA.
Following the government’s announcement in January 2015 that it would push ahead with a plain packaging bill, the TMA said the decision was “a blow to tens of thousands of small retailers across the country”.
There was also a revolving door between the tobacco industry and the government.
Former Conservative Party Chancellor Ken Clarke is a leading politician who left politics to enter the tobacco industry.
From 1998 to 2007 he was deputy chairman of British American Tobacco.
Kate Marley, a special adviser to David Cameron during his time in No 10, has also swapped her senior civil service role for a lucrative job at Big Tobacco.
Between 2021 and 2022, she led Government Affairs for Philip Morris in the UK and Ireland.
Today’s lobbying activities are highly regulated, forcing lawmakers to publicize their interests and meetings in ways that would have been unthinkable in the 1950s.
Smoking has long since lost its power on the big screen, and there will be no modern equivalent of Dean or Hepburn.
But as Mr Sunak discovers, the tobacco industry’s lobbying fire has not yet died down.
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.