Lobbying by Philip Morris: Influence on Tobacco Control Policies

Lobbying- Philip Morris

Introduction
Large corporations are one of the leading players in lobbying activities in the world. Philip
Morris is one example. Since its creation in 1874, lobbying had been important corner stone of
the companies’ strategy. The company also plays a leading role in the sector in order to secure
their own interests. The company has hired top lobbying firms to lobby against health authorities
and regulations around the world (Bouwen, 2002).
Controversies exist over the deadly nature of tobacco, which has made tobacco companies
worried. The company has had to face several litigations regarding the same (Bennett et al.,
2017). Most of the controversies are made regarding the packaging process of the company and
the qualities of the product that the company is using for the products. In the United Kingdom,
disputes arose in 2014 due to the plain packaging system. However, litigations are pending
against the company due to the same, and the company has to face damages. However, the
company has also filed cases asking for compensation from the government of the United
Kingdom for the introduction of plain packaging for their product (McDaniel et al., 2015).
According to a report, the company is deploying its resources against global efforts for the
reduction of smoking. In 2014, the company has spent € 5.25million on a lobby control
department to maintain transparency in their activities. According to the media relationship
manager of Philip Morris, the financial discrepancies imposed on the company are fateful, as the
company has always contributed their views within the decision-making process of the European
Union (Crosbie, Sosa and Glantz, 2018). Further criticisms have been made against the rules that
regulate the contract between policymakers and the tobacco manufacturing industries.
This essay is evolved with certain lobbying matters seeking to influence regulations, and to
explain the role that Philip Morris and other tobacco industries perform when trying to corrupt
the law to secure their own interests around the world. There will be an attempt to examine some
of the events that may have tempted such expenditure by the firm. Furthermore, this essay has
come across a few disadvantages that might arise to social stakeholders and how policymakers
and authorities can protect the interests of society.
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Philip Morris, an Overview:
Philip Morris is an international tobacco manufacturing company that has around 180 branches
spread over several countries. The company is recognised as the producer of the leading tobacco
product, Marlboro. Said company has worked under the supervision of the Altaria Group until
2008, and after that year, a spin off took place in the group regarding the corporate ownership of
the US sales market. All of the shareholders of the Altaria groups were investing their capital in
the Philip Morris, while the group wanted to concentrate in the sales market of the USA.
Therefore, a conflict has cropped up in this regard. The headquarters of the company is situated
in New York, and the operational headquarters of the company are situated in Switzerland
(Pmi.com, 2018).
Lobbying- Definition:
Lobbying is an act that attempts to influence the actions or policies made by officials in their
daily life. Most of the time, lobbying is undertaken to influence the work of regulatory agencies
(Berry, 2015). According to the ethical principle of lobbying, the use of socio-economic power
by someone attempting to corrupt the law to secure his or her own interest is treated as lobbying
(Griffin and Thurber, 2015).
It has been observed that professional lobbyists influence legislation to progress their own
commercial interests. Certain conflicts of interest have been raised when officials are trying to
shape laws according to their own perspective (McCambridge, Hawkins and Holden, 2014). The
process of lobbying is treated as an agent of misdirection when any government official or
private company fails to go about their duties in favour of public interests. Therefore, the word
lobbying can be defined as an advocacy that is intended to influence the decisions made by the
government in line with certain special interests.
Considering the nature of it, the term lobbying is regarded as amicus curiae and governments
sometimes treat it as a part of law in order to prevent the chances of political corruption and to
establish transparency according to the lobby registers (Kim, 2017). For an instance, certain rules
have been made to provide advantages to coloured people by the National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People, which has been challenged in 1950 by the process of
lobbying. The Supreme Court of USA had declared the policies of the organisation as
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unconstitutional. In the United Kingdom, most of the lobbying is made from the corporate side
and the purpose of it is to amend government rules through advocacy (Borisov, Goldman and
Gupta, 2015). Lobbying is considered as a legal process, in the case where the practice has been
professed to influence political decisions.
Lobbying against tobacco control policies:
In this present case, it has been observed that one of the leading tobacco manufacturers in the
world has had to face a lot of trouble due to the policies undertaken by the World Health
Organisation. The company has made certain protests regarding the same. In 2003, the WHO has
taken on a certain framework to control tobacco. This treaty was adopted under Article 19 of the
constitution (de Godoy Lusso et al., 2017).
The operation of the treaty has been coming into force more in 2005. The main purpose of the
treaty is to protect the current generation from the detrimental effects of smoking consumption.
This treaty has also concentrated on the societal and environmental effects of smoking.
A universal standard has been on to curb the danger of consuming ashes by way of limiting its
utilisation. The standard is known as the FCTC standard, and after the issuance of the standard,
many tobacco manufacturers have denied to abide by the regulations. An increment in tobacco-
related diseases has been observed and Professor Ruth Roemer has taken all the possible steps to
apply legal provisions to control the use of tobacco on a worldwide basis. However, lobbying has
been made by the tobacco industry against the tobacco control policies taken by World Health
Organisation.
Reasons behind corporation lobbying:
The purpose of the lobbying process was to shift the concentration from health issues to the
financial losses suffered by the tobacco industry (Roache, Gostin and Fonsalia, 2016). With this
intention, the tobacco industry has tried to influence member state delegation. The tobacco
industry has taken on several policies to sloth the implementation process of the FCTC by filing
more cases against it (Nixon, Mahmoud and Glantz, 2004). It has also been pointed out by the
tobacco industry that they are the stakeholders of the tobacco control process, and that they
should get the permission to be a member involved in the decision-making process.
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