Chapter 6: Grounding the Promotional Strategies of China's Tobacco Industry in Ethics
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In 2003, the People’s Republic of China signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and, in 2005, ratified it, declaring its interest in adopting some of the antismoking measures common in some developed nations. That declaration is also an indication of the nation’s expanding tobacco control efforts. This chapter identifies the promotional strategies of China’s tobacco industry and calls for urgent corporate and government actions on two fronts. First, from a corporate standpoint, it argues for an adherence to the ethical universals of four classical theories (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and egoism tenets) that will help position the industry as a responsible partner in China’s burgeoning business community. Second, from the government’s standpoint, it proposes, among other things, that changes be made in the (structural and administrative) relationships between the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the industry at large, that is, primarily, the China National Tobacco Company; and also that a more rigorous antismoking action be undertaken through programs and legislation. Values-driven communication management can guide industry actions in a landscape challenged by the ethics of producing, promoting, and marketing tobacco products, whereas the central government seeks to curtail their use pari passu.
Cornelius Pratt Biography |