University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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try to learn from them, whom they hold responsible and how their conditions could
be prevented. Smokers are included in the study, not only because of the addiction of
nicotine, but also because the impact of anti-smoking campaigns may assist the
research.
Corporate Social Responsibility Expectations from the
Alcohol, Tobacco and Gambling Industries
Radebauh and Gray (2002 p. 119) have defined CSR as ‘accountability to society as
a whole with respect to matters of public interest such as community welfare, public
safety and the environment’. McWilliams and Siegel (2001 p. 117) believe that CSR
represents ‘actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of
the firm and that which is required by law’. Guthrie and Parker (1989) concluded that
an organisation needs to disseminate enough CSR information so that it is judged a
good citizen. If this was not reason enough, there are other factors that can influence
firms. Key and Popkin (1998) maintain that the moral and ethical concerns of
stakeholder groups can lead to regulation. Lantos (1999 p. 224) has noted that
‘morally upright behaviour can help fend off government regulation'.
Where products could be regarded as ethically dubious, or socially undesirable or
problematical, there is a greater expectation of responsible behaviour. Compliance
with the law may be insufficient. Van Dijken (2007 p. 146) 'some industries' core
business activities seem incompatible with social welfare'. In such circumstances,
there may well be an expectation that the firms will try harder to appear responsible,
to compensate for the products in which they deal.
For example, Carroll (1991) expected that the alcohol industry should accept
responsibility for problems such as alcoholism and drunk driving. Rundle-Thiele's
study of alcohol in Australia (2008) has suggested that the appropriate level of
responsibility would be to ensure that adults were adequately informed about the
dangers of the product. Bramner and Pavelin (2004 p. 88) studied voluntary social
disclosures by large UK companies and found that ‘the tobacco and alcoholic drinks
industries are associated with highly visible social issues. They are thought to
produce large social externalities (e.g. crime and health) and are subject to strong
regulatory regimes (competition, safety and taxation)’. Thus, it may be assumed that
they would take preventative measures to ensure that no further legislation affects
them.
Methodology
Having established that someone must accept responsibility for those who become
addicted to products which are sold quite legally, this study then intends to consider
some of the possible ways in which such addictions could have been prevented.
However, the people who know best are those heading towards or recognise their
dependency, and especially those who have done something to rectify their position.
This means that such people have to be identified and then interviewed. This is easy
with smokers, but more difficult with heavy drinkers and gamblers, and is these cases