Tobacco industry smokers' rights publications: a content analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This study was undertaken to identify the content of tobacco industry smokers' rights publications and to analyze their major themes. METHODS: Fifty-eight issues of smokers' rights publications from 1987 to 1992 were selected at random and analyzed. The number of publications per year, number of mentions (sentences) in different thematic categories per year, and number of mentions per category per publication were examined. RESULTS: The number of smokers' rights publications increased rapidly from 1987 to 1992. The number of mentions across all thematic categories increased over time, with the largest numbers appearing in 1990, 1991, and 1992. The category of Political and Social Action comprised the highest average number of mentions across years. CONCLUSIONS: These publications appear to be consistent with past and present tobacco industry strategies to counter tobacco control efforts and negative public perceptions by attempting to refute scientific evidence about the health impact of environmental tobacco smoke. Additionally, they serve the industry goals of encouraging smokers to take action to protect their rights, mobilizing public opinion, and delaying societal rejection of smoking and secondhand smoke and acceptance of smoking restrictions.

Popular films do not reflect current tobacco use.

This study examined trends in tobacco use in a random sample of 2 of the 20 top-grossing US films each year from 1960 through 1990 (62 films). The overall rate of tobacco use did not change. Films continue to portray smokers as successful, attractive White males. Smoking groups became larger, smoking alone declined, hostility and stress reduction were increasingly associated with smoking, and smoking by minor characters increased. Although smoking among elite characters fell, it remained nearly three times as prevalent as in actual population data during the 3 decades. Events involving young people more than doubled. Films do not accurately represent smoking in the United States.

Philip Morris's failed experiment in Pittsburgh.

The campaign for passage and implementation of Pittsburgh's Smoking Control Ordinance in 1987 illustrates the role controversy plays in tobacco control. Proponents of the ordinance sought at first to keep it noncontroversial, while the tobacco industry tried to defeat the ordinance by generating controversy, claiming that severe economic and social disruption would occur. After the ordinance had been in force for a year, Philip Morris tried to take over its implementation, seeking to redefine the central issue as one of social accommodation rather than health. To succeed, Philip Morris's effort had to be widely accepted and noncontroversial. Proponents of the ordinance countered with controversy to undermine the campaign and expose the company's intentions. The controversy made the established health organizations uncomfortable, causing them to play only a marginal role. Surprisingly, the people who prevailed were the nonsmokers' rights activists, a small group with limited resources.

Characteristics of sheltered care facility operators in California in 1973 and 1985.

During the past 20 years, sheltered care homes have become the primary supervised community residence for mentally ill patients outside of licensed hospitals. To determine factors associated with sheltered care operators' remaining in business, follow-up interviews were conducted in 1985 with operators of 151 sheltered care facilities in California whose operators had been surveyed in 1973. Fifty-five of the original operators continued to operate the facility at 12-year follow-up, and 96 were new to the facilities since 1973. Compared with the original operators, the new operators were younger and better educated, were more likely to be men, and were more likely to be totally dependent on the business for their income. Operators who were members of local associations for sheltered care operators were more likely to have remained in business over the 12-year period, as were those who owned facilities with more than six beds.