The tobacco industry playbook, also known as the tobacco disinformation playbook or the tobacco strategy, is a public relations plan used by the tobacco industry in the 1950s to protect profits as evidence grew about the dangers of smoking, especially cancer. Similar tactics were used earlier, starting in the 1920s, by the oil industry to promote the use of tetraethyllead in gasoline. These methods are still used today by other industries, such as the fossil fuel industry, often with the same public relations companies and researchers.

Much of the playbook is known from documents released by whistleblowers or through the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. These documents are now organized by the UCSF Truth Tobacco Industry Documents project and are a main source for studying the tobacco playbook and its connections to similar strategies used by other industries, like the fossil fuel industry.

A 1969 internal memo from R. J. Reynolds stated, "Doubt is our product since it is the best way to compete with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public." In the book Merchants of Doubt, authors Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway described how tobacco companies worked for many years to question scientific evidence about the harm caused by their products. They also noted that other industries, such as those with harmful products facing regulation, used the same methods. This is often linked to climate change denial promoted by the fossil fuel industry. From the 1990s, groups like the American Petroleum Institute used similar tactics to cast doubt on climate science. Some public relations firms and individuals who once claimed smoking was safe were later hired to challenge climate science.

History

In 1953, Reader's Digest published a summary of an article from the Christian Herald titled "Cancer by the Carton," which described new discoveries by health researchers such as Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill. In response, leaders from the U.S. tobacco industry and John Hill, a public relations expert from the company Hill & Knowlton, met in a crisis meeting at the New York Plaza Hotel. This meeting led to the 1954 publication of "A Frank Statement," an advertisement created to question the scientific evidence showing serious health risks from smoking. Tactics used included:

• Making up or changing scientific research and presenting it as real research, such as using bad methods that favor certain results or only sharing results that support their view (a type of unethical practice).
• Attacking scientists who publish research showing problems with smoking by threatening their jobs, promotions, and reputations.
• Creating fear, confusion, and doubt by claiming that scientists are not sure about accepted findings. This was done by funding unreliable studies that challenge scientific agreement and repeating claims that have already been proven wrong.
• Using connections to respected academic or professional groups to influence research for business, political, or personal goals.
• Trying to control government actions through political lobbying, ignoring scientific agreement, which could harm public health and safety.
• Opposing government rules and instead promoting self-regulation by companies and personal responsibility.
• Astroturfing: creating or funding fake groups that appear to represent public opinion but actually work for industry interests. These groups often have misleading names and falsely claim to speak for regular people.

Books like Bad Science: A Resource Book were used to spread ideas that question scientists' independence and government involvement in scientific matters.

Influence

The playbook has been used by the fossil fuel industry to prevent global action on climate change and by those who want to weaken the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Creating and spreading doubt, especially, was inspired by the tobacco industry.

Because the tobacco industry had little trust from the public and faced pressure to address the health risks of secondhand smoke, it recruited others who opposed the EPA. It created the "Advancement of Sound Science Coalition" (TASSC), a group that appeared to be made up of everyday people but was actually organized. The first leader of TASSC was Steve Milloy, who previously worked for APCO, a company hired by Philip Morris to help start TASSC. Milloy later created the website junkscience.com, which compared environmentalists to Nazis and now spreads ideas that deny climate change. Many people who worked for the tobacco industry also worked for fossil fuel companies to oppose climate action. TASSC hired Frederick Seitz and Fred Singer, who are now known for denying climate change.

In 2015, Richard Reavey of Cloud Peak Energy (who previously worked for Philip Morris) gave a presentation titled "Survival Is Victory: Lessons From the Tobacco Wars." In it, Reavey admitted that the tactics used by the tobacco industry were similar to those used by the fossil fuel industry and encouraged coal company leaders to accept climate change facts and work with regulators. Fred Singer and Frederick Seitz are now well-known figures who deny climate change and previously worked for the tobacco industry.

Environmental writer George Monbiot has identified many groups that were funded by tobacco companies and later by Exxon and other fossil fuel companies. These groups now spread ideas that deny climate change. Examples include the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute, the Frontiers of Freedom Institute, the Reason Foundation, the Independent Institute, and George Mason University's Law and Economics Centre.

People who oppose vaping also notice that the e-cigarette industry has used tactics similar to those of the tobacco industry when responding to health concerns. Tobacco companies invested in soft drink companies and used the same methods, such as using bright colors and flavors, to attract young people. The soft drink industry has used similar strategies to avoid taxes on sugary drinks and other government actions aimed at reducing obesity. Coca-Cola has funded health research through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, which allowed the company to review research before it was published, control study data, decide whether to share results, and determine if its funding would be mentioned. Some agreements even allowed Coca-Cola to stop research from being published.

A 2019 article in the Emory Law Journal compared the National Football League's attempts to downplay the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football to tactics used by the tobacco industry. The New York Times noted that some people from the tobacco industry were involved in the NFL's efforts to defend itself. The World Health Organization has since created a tobacco control playbook. Public relations strategies used by large technology companies have often been compared to those used by the tobacco industry.