Tobacco, Alcohol and Big Food: the Sickly Trifecta?

July 8, 2010 – 10:15 am, by Croakey

What do the tobacco and alcohol industries have in common, apart from both contributing to a huge slab of the burden of disease?

They have used similar tactics to defend their markets and to fight off public health measures, according to a new analysis from researchers at Curtin University in Perth.

The paper, Selling addictions: Similarities in approaches between Big Tobacco and Big Booze, is published in the Australasian Medical Journal and based upon a search of tobacco industry documents published online as part of the Master Settlement Agreement in the US.

The study identified 29 documents relevant to alcohol. The authors conclude: “The documents show that alcohol and tobacco companies have worked closely together, have shared information, share similar concerns and have used similar arguments to defend their products and prevent or delay restrictions being placed on their products.

“It is clear from the documents identified that both industries use similar strategies to market their products through product placement, target marketing to youth and specific ethnic groups. They develop and provide potentially counter-productive public education campaigns so as to appear socially responsible and in an effort to deflect tighter controls on products. The alcohol and tobacco industries have demonstrated through the documents that they are opposed to regulations which threaten their sales and have used similar methods of lobbying and use of front groups to delay progress./.../