British American Tobacco's Defense of Human Rights

Despite the tobacco industry's exclusion from the United Nations Global Compact in 2017 due to its serious human rights abuses, tobacco manufacturer British American Tobacco (BAT) is using International Human Rights Day, December 10, to publish a report on this subject and try to restore its image.

The United Nations (UN), NGOs and human rights experts emphasize the human rights responsibilities of non-state actors[1], including private companies. Tobacco kills more than 8 million people prematurely each year and tobacco companies continue to produce, market, sell and promote their deadly products. The United Nations Global Compact publicly announced in September 2017 that tobacco companies would be removed from the Global Compact membership list, effective October 15, 2017, recognizing an inherent conflict of interest between these products and human rights, the right to public health, international security and peace.[2].

Based on a mandate given to it by Philip Morris International, the Danish government agency Danish Institute for Human Rights[3] assessed what it would take for a tobacco company to do to respect human rights and concluded that the only thing the tobacco industry could do is to immediately cease manufacturing and marketing tobacco products. Tobacco is profoundly harmful to human health, and there is no doubt that the production and marketing of tobacco is irreconcilable with the human right to health.[4]. However, the tobacco industry, which is witnessing a decline in its cigarette sales worldwide, is currently in the process of reconquering markets with its new tobacco products, which it is aggressively promoting.

Using new products to convey a new image

BAT has the widest range of new products, the most diversified of any major tobacco company[5]. In order to better promote them while trying to correct a seriously damaged image, the manufacturer is publishing a report highlighting the company's concern to build a "Better Tomorrow", a "better future", of which new products are at the heart of the strategy. The aim is to reach out to governments with a view to relaxing the regulations in force and obtaining favorable conditions for new products placed on the markets.[6]. The company claims that its new investments demonstrate its commitment to offering "...an unmatched range of potentially reduced-risk products that meet the diverse preferences of today's consumers." Yet there is no independent study to support this reality. Instead, these new products are seen as part of a market-reconquest strategy and in no way as a public health option to be retained.[7].

The exploitation of the Covid-19 pandemic

This year, the United Nations Human Rights Day focused on the human rights implications of the Covid-19 pandemic around the world. BAT's report highlights initiatives the company has taken in response to the crisis. Designed to improve its image, these initiatives have been interpreted by public health stakeholders as attempts to better launch and promote its new products.[8]. In several countries, BAT has been promoting its Glo heated tobacco device.[9] with special discounts, contests, and free protective gear with the purchase of the device. In Kazakhstan, the company provided Glo-branded face masks to more than a dozen Instagram influencers who promoted the product. In France and many other countries, BAT’s e-cigarette brand Vype has driven online sales of its products through numerous discounts and references to the pandemic on its social media. These examples illustrate the gap between the “corporate marketing” discourse that presents an idyllic image of the company and the reality on the ground, characterized by its disregard for fundamental human rights.

Keywords: Human rights, BAT, new products, CSR ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Press releaseNon-State actors have a key role to play in protecting human rights, say several rapporteurs and special representatives, United Nations, AG/SHC/3928, October 27, 2008, accessed December 15, 2020 [2] United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), TobaccoTactics University of Bath, last updated 27 April 2020, accessed 18 December 2020 [3] Human Rights assessment in Philip Morris International, The Danish Institute for Human Rights, May 4, 2017, accessed December 18, 2020 ^[4] United Nations Global Compact, UNGC Board Meeting Report, 19 July 2017, accessed 16 December 2020 [5] The United Nations system supports Article 5.3 on non-interference by the tobacco industry, WHO website, September 12, 2017, consulted on December 16, 2020 [5] Next Generation Products: British American Tobacco, TobaccoTactics, Bath University, last updated 25 August 2020, accessed 15 December 2020 [6] CSR Strategy, TobaccoTactics, Bath University, last updated 18 September 2020, accessed 15 December 2020 [7] Bialous SA, Glantz SA Heated tobacco products: another tobacco industry global strategy to slow progress in tobacco control Tobacco Control 2018;27:s111-s117. [8] Tobacco Free Generation, Europe: The tobacco industry is exploiting the Covid19 pandemic, October 15, 2020, accessed December 15, 2020 [9] Big Tobacco is exploiting Covid19 to market its harmful products, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, accessed December 15, 2020 National Committee Against Smoking |