Tobacco and Public Health - TCSC Indonesia

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LESSONS IN TOBACCO CONTROL ADVOCACY LEADERSHIP
the change was about. Public awareness and support grew, and South Africa enacted an
advertising ban three [years] later.
Opportunism
In policy advocacy, opportunism is not a character-flaw—but a virtue—and even
apparent disaster may be turned into opportunity.
For example, in the Geneva negotiations on WHOs proposed Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control, the US delegation’s opposition to a ban on advertising
in the pending WHO FCTC has been a true outrage. But surging international
resentment at the US heavy handed bullying provoked developing regions to react by
taking a strong stand in support of ad bans, including the Indian government, which
had previously shown little interest in pursuing such a ban internally.
In India, tobacco control advocates seized upon this opportunity to press the government
to introduce comprehensive national legislation, including a total ban on tobacco
product advertising and broad smoke-free policies in public places.
But opportunism needs to function within an existing strategic framework—without
which, opportunism can easily lead advocates astray from their priority objectives.
In the US from the turn of the century, state tobacco control coalitions, with technical
assistance and funding from national tobacco control organizations, had building the
capacity to launch campaigns for massive tobacco excise tax increases.
For three years, little progress was made. Conservative governors, campaigning
against all tax increases, vowed never to raise the taxes—including tobacco taxes. Then
came an economic recession, and the governors suddenly faced terrifying budget deficits.
The coalitions and the national organizations were ready:
◆ Their research teams deployed state of the art soft-ware to calculate state-specific
tax revenue benefits from large excise tax increases.
◆ They conducted carefully public opinion polls in key states finely attuned to each
state’s political environment. The polls didn’t stop at demonstrating popular support
for tax hikes, they were designed to show—and DID show that cigarettes tax hikes
were very good politics—particularly popular among the very ‘swing’ voters that all
elected officials covet.
◆ To convey this message, the coalitions held press conferences, issued editorial board
memoranda, developed state-specific news releases—featuring localized sound
bites from prominent state leaders.
For three years, Nebraska’s staunchly conservative Governor, when asked about the
possibility of Cigarette excise tax increases, had growled, ‘NO way; NO how!’ After
meeting with the pollster hired by the tobacco control advocates, he proposed a 50 cent
a pack cigarette excise tax increase.
◆ 15 other governors—including several rabid anti-tax crusaders—proposed similar
massive tobacco tax increases.