Lynn MacFadyen

Corporate social responsibility in food retailing

Describes a study investigating the motivations of food retailers to engage in corporate socially responsible (CSR) activities. Focusing on confectionery retailing and merchandising, the study sought to establish the extent of CSR activities and the motivations for companies to act as they do. An audit of food retailers was first conducted to establish the nature and extent of CSR activities. This was followed by a series of in‐depth interviews with key decision makers in food retailing organisations, to reveal motivations behind their policies on confectionery retailing. The authors found the main motivations driving confectionery merchandising decisions to be space maximisation, profitability and customer pressure. While certain proactive companies recognised the benefits of being seen as a socially responsible company, none of the companies was driven primarily by philanthropic motivations.

A day in the life of an advertising man: review of internal documents from the UK tobacco industry's principal advertising agencies

In July 1999 the Health Select Committee began an investigation into the British tobacco industry to determine what action it had taken and was taking in response to the known harmful effects of smoking and the addictive nature of tobacco. One of the committees key achievements was to force the disclosure of a large quantity of internal company documents, including—for the first time—material from the UK tobacco industrys leading advertising agencies. These documents cover all matters to do with tobacco promotion. They shed a unique light on the social research that has been done over the past 20 years to establish if and how tobacco promotion affects smoking behaviour. This research has been extensive but by necessity limited to studying observable outputs. The documents complete the picture by disclosing the inputs. In the process the documents corroborate the key findings of research and also yield much about the motivations and mindset of the UK tobacco industry. #### Summary points Tobacco advertising is intended to increase consumption as well as brand share and has a powerful effect on young people Sponsorship and advertising work in exactly the same way and are only a small part of tobacco marketing Tobacco advertisers are driven by a commercial imperative to increase sales, and they show no concern for the ethical or public health consequences of their actions Voluntary agreements simply do not work and must be replaced by statutory measures The select committee identified five UK advertising agencies with clients in the tobacco industry, and using its statutory powers it requested internal documents covering tobacco related business in the previous five years. On our advice it requested particular types of document (box 1). Between them the agencies submitted 16 boxes containing several thousand pages of material. We have no way of knowing what proportion of the requested …

Strategic marketing in the UK tobacco industry

Tobacco-industry marketing has played a central part in the global spread of tobacco use and addiction. Although the absolute size of the tobacco market has dwindled, the industry is still immensely successful, largely due to sophisticated and manipulative marketing strategies. The UK tobacco industry identifies target groups and builds enduring relationships based on careful brand management. Potential customers are exposed to brands which are likely to appeal to them most. Tobacco companies tailor their products to target markets by altering the content of tar and nicotine, and by adding flavourings to produce a distinctive taste. Marketing strategies ensure that the products are promoted heavily at the point of sale, and directed advertising and sponsorship agreements are used to increase the visibility of the brand and strengthen its image. Tobacco companies also target non-consumer organisations such as retailers and policy makers with the aim of creating the best possible business environment for tobacco sales. We review published evidence, internal-advertising-agency documents, and observational data about tobacco promotion, and discuss the use of targeted marketing strategies in the UK.

Smoking, branding, and the meaning of life.

What are the best known words in the world? . . . Sex? . . . Life? . . . Death? . . . Jesus? No. They’re Coca Cola. This is a tribute to the immense power of branding. In essence, Coke (notice we even have a pet name for it) is just a fizzy drink, but it has a turnover approaching £9000 million (US

Tobacco marketing: shackling the pied piper.

14 000 million) in some 185 countries and its familiar bottle, font, and red and white livery are symbols of fun, freedom, and the American way of life across vastly different cultures. And Coke is not alone: Kodak, Sony, Gillette, Levi, Marlboro, and countless other brands each provide mundane products with distinctive values and personalities. This issue of Tobacco Control contains three articles that illustrate the power and ubiquity of branding in the tobacco market.1-3 Arnett and Terhanian1 present a simple but elegant study showing that adolescents are very much aware of cigarette advertisements, that they like the ads, and that they feel that the ads make smoking more appealing. Furthermore, smokers are more likely than non-smokers to sense this reinforcement, and all the effects they found are more marked for Marlboro and Camel—the brand leaders among young people. This study adds to an extensive literature, which began with the seminal research by Aitken et al in the UK during the 1980s, showing that among all children, and especially amongst those who smoke or are inclined to smoke, there is a disturbingly high awareness of, familiarity with, and appreciation of tobacco advertising.4 This picture has been confirmed most recently in a longitudinal study by Pierce and colleagues,5 which showed that involvement with tobacco promotion predicts the onset of smoking. All this research provides compelling evidence that advertising encourages the uptake, and reinforces …

New Debate: Assessing the Impact of Branding and Tobacco Marketing Communications on Young People in Britain

These are encouraging times for tobacco control. Both the British and the American governments are trying to curb the activities of the tobacco industry, and the European Union will probably now move against tobacco advertising across Europe. This is a good moment, therefore, to emphasise that our key concern should be not with advertising, or sponsorship, or indeed any individual element of the industrys promotional activity, but with the whole process of tobacco marketing. As with the successful marketing of other consumer goods, tobacco marketing is based on careful research to provide a detailed understanding of customers, and this guides linked strategies in the four marketing areas of product development, distribution, pricing, and promotion. These strategies aim to build successful brands and thereby maximise the appeal of the industrys offerings. Tobacco has two sorts of customer: starters, who are just trying out the habit and deciding whether to take it up, and committed users, who have been smoking for some time. Committed users are easier to please: they simply need access to their regular fix of nicotine. Starters …

The limitations of fear messages

New debate: Assessing the impact of branding and tobacco marketing communications on young people in Britain Gerard Hastings a , Lynn MacFadyen b , Anne‐‐Marie MacKintontosh c & Ray Lowry d a Director of the Centre for Social Marketing, Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland b Research Officer at the Centre for Social Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland c Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland d Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Newcastle and North Tyneside Health Authority