SMOKESHOP 04/04 - Selling Out Tobacco (cont)

April,
2004

Selling Out Tobacco (cont.)

What can be done?
Unfortunately, tobacco retailers are continually caught in the cross-fire. In an almost child-like game of tag with governments and the anti-tobacco groups - tobacco manufacturers have since unwittingly contributed to their own demise. There is a serious lack of understanding within the industry as to the players, the process, and the issues. More to the point, there is a serious lack of willingness to commit the necessary resources to providing for real solutions. For some reason, the old guard is steadfastly maintaining its collision course. They are slowly selling out tobacco and you’re paying for it.

Perhaps one of the most obvious problems with the industry is its detrimental tendency to look for the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel - with the help of lawyers and lobbyists. To this day I remain flabbergasted at the industry’s brash commitment to hiring all the wrong people and playing into the very hands of the anti-tobacco lobby. Paycheck consultants are probably the worse, as their expertise begins and ends at their ability to tell you exactly what you want to hear — not what you need to hear. They know nothing about your business, let alone mine (tobacco control). In the end, hiring them to argue the legitimacy of your business is like hiring a house painter to custom paint a sports car.

If tobacco retailers are truly interested in safeguarding their legitimate investments and getting back to the business of selling tobacco, then a renewed commitment is in order. And the path is clear as to what needs to be done.

The Defense
First and foremost, tobacco retailers will need to argue for their right to fair and meaningful consultation on public policies which directly impact their lives and livelihoods. Saying that “we are a legal industry selling a legal product” will only bring you as far as you’ve already come. There needs to be a dramatic change in corporate mentality, government relations and public acknowledgment/reach.

Among these required changes:

Retailers need to develop and promote a public position on their business and the issues before them. Corporate responsibility requires that you explain (not excuse) your association with tobacco; your support for accountable public policies; and your willingness to work in productive partnerships with both governments and the general public.
Retailers should also be spending their time selling tobacco, not defending it. Manufacturers are the ones who should be defending the market. That being said, I’ve since met several businessmen whose egos have forgiven their failure on this file. If I were a retailer, I wouldn’t forgive as easily. Tobacco retailing has become a dangerous activity over the last decade. Without question, the industry is being devastated. But this devastation is less the result of an increase in social awareness and more so of people simply not doing their job.
Retailers should engage (not enrage) governments, the media, and the general public. Only support industry initiatives which provide for well developed research, honest dialogue and true commitment. Give people reason and opportunity to support you. They will.
Retailers should resist flashy, feel-good, short-sighted, and short-lived PR campaigns. They never provide for any real victory. The earth is not flat… it’s round. Stop buying into the tried, tested, and failed approaches of yesteryears.
Retailers should set very clear objectives and goals, and only work with committed partners/consultants who are willing to put their own money where their mouth is. In this sense, why should you have to pay consultants who don’t deliver the goods? That’s like sending a check to a supplier whose delivery truck never came. People who shy away from “performance” pay tend to be poor performers.

From my vantage point, I see retailers as honest, hardworking, law-abiding and legitimate industry stakeholders who contribute to society not only as community members — but community builders as well. There is a deserved recognition and respect of which you have since constructively been deprived — and that’s not fair.

There is no reason why tobacco retailing cannot revert to a more manageable, profitable, safer, and proud activity in our society. Still, change will require that you take the first step towards government, media and the general public — while humbly forgiving their past transgressions.

Luc Martial has worked as a professional on the tobacco file in Canada over the last decade through a unique combination of senior postings within tobacco control advocacy groups, the national health community, and the Federal Government of Canada. He has been an invited guest speaker at conferences throughout South America, Europe, the U.S., and Canada and has testified before Parliamentary and other government committees on issues of tobacco advertising, generic packaging, tobacco taxation, smuggling and smoking bans. In 2001, after more than two years with the federal government, Martial resigned his posting on matter of professional ethics. He could simply no longer justify what he was being asked to do and was particularly distressed at how legitimate industry stakeholders were being unjustifiably marginalized, vilified, and dismissed out-of-hand.

SMOKESHOP - April, 2004