TOBACCO - Social Shakes

Below is part of an overall paper called "SOCIAL SHAKES - rethinking the core principles for principled and effective development action" - the full Table of Contents is here.

TOBACCO

There has been a major social norm change related to tobacco and smoking in so many countries. Challenges remain, of course, including the new phenomena of vaping. But over a 20-year period, in many countries, smoking has gone from being the ultra-cool thing to do...to smokers being the new pariahs. As a result, there has been a significant increase in the percentage of the global population over 15 years of age who are not smokers.³ Progress has of course been uneven: spectacular in some countries, regressive in others.

This change has been in the face of a product that is highly addictive with gazillions of dollars being spent by some of the largest and wealthiest companies in the world on their own highly expert, global-scale, sophisticated, message-driven communication campaigns to encourage and support people to start and continue a pack-a-day habit. For the first 25 (approximate) years after the initial United States Surgeon General's report linking tobacco use to negative health results, including high incidences of lung cancer, much was tried but not much worked. From the patch to hypnosis, from quit smoking campaigns based on individual responsibility to fear-inducing messages on the packaging, making progress was a real struggle.

And then something happened.

A smoke-free social movement emerged. Tobacco became an issue for public debate in families, communities, local municipalities/councils, governments and gatherings of all stripes, colours and locales. Emerging from these conversations: bylaws, rules, regulations and customs were introduced; national and local governments banned smoking in their buildings; unions sought protection for the health and well-being of their members; corporations banned smoking in places of work; taxes were raised to ensure a price barrier to purchase; sponsorship bans and restrictions were instituted; parents paid much higher attention to discussing tobacco with their children and preventing them from being around smokers; media campaigns highlighted what happens if you smoke; tobacco became a big news story; and people in their communities and countries started to organise - they raised their voices.

This was a social movement communication process. It was not narrowly focused on message delivery seeking to influence people to make individual behaviour changes. That would have been a losing proposition, given the overwhelming power of tobacco messaging.

Like all social movements, stimulus points are vital. For tobacco, this included data on the negative health effects of secondhand (or environmental) smoke, first in a secret tobacco industry study in 1978 and later confirmed in a series of studies. Now, tobacco was everyone's (health) business.

Despite being vastly (really vastly!) out-muscled and out-spent, and facing an addictive "agent", the anti-tobacco forces have scored some considerable victories with their social communication processes. Momentum remains on their side.

³ The report - WHO Global Report on Trends in Tobacco Smoking - finds that in 2010, there were 3.9 billion non-smokers aged 15 years and over in WHO Member States (or 78% of the 5.1 billion population aged 15+). This number is projected to rise to 5 billion (or 81% of the projected 6.1 billion population aged 15+) by 2025 if the current pace of tobacco cessation continues. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/trends-tobacco-use/en/

The next section in this paper is EBOLA.

The previous section in this paper is FAMILY SIZE / FERTILITY TRENDS.

Editor's note: Above is an excerpt from Warren Feek's paper "SOCIAL SHAKES - rethinking the core principles for principled and effective development action".

The full table of contents for this paper can be accessed at the bottom of the opening page.