Corporate social responsibility and the tobacco industry: hope or hype?
- Correspondence to: Dr Norbert Hirschhorn Nastolantie 6, A3 00600 Helsinki, Finland;
- Received 13 November 2003
- Accepted 15 July 2004
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) emerged from a realisation among transnational corporations of the need to account for and redress their adverse impact on society: specifically, on human rights, labour practices, and the environment. Two transnational tobacco companies have recently adopted CSR: Philip Morris, and British American Tobacco. This report explains the origins and theory behind CSR; examines internal company documents from Philip Morris showing the company’s deliberations on the matter, and the company’s perspective on its own behaviour; and reflects on whether marketing tobacco is antithetical to social responsibility.
- ASH, Action on Smoking and Health
- BAT, British American Tobacco
- CERES, Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies
- CSR, corporate social responsibility
- DJSI, Dow Jones Sustainability Index
- GCAC, Global Corporate Affairs Council
- GRI, Global Reporting Initiative
- MSA, Master Settlement Agreement
- NGOs, non-governmental organisations
- PM, Philip Morris
- TNCs, transnational corporations
- UNEP, United Nations Environment Program
↵* Including the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Nottingham, UK, funded by British American Tobacco.
↵§ Webb may have been referring to the development of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).