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Messaging and Advocacy in U.S. Tobacco Control Policy, 2009–19
Author(s) -
Ferraiolo Kathleen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
world medical and health policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.326
H-Index - 11
ISSN - 1948-4682
DOI - 10.1002/wmh3.310
Subject(s) - tobacco control , legislation , harm reduction , government (linguistics) , harm , public policy , psychological intervention , public health , public relations , political science , tobacco industry , public administration , sociology , law , medicine , nursing , linguistics , philosophy
Social science and public health researchers have spent decades investigating the effectiveness of various interventions designed to lower smoking rates and educate the U.S. public about the damages of tobacco consumption. This manuscript addresses two deficiencies in the existing literature. First, it examines important changes in tobacco control policy since the passage of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the most significant antismoking legislation in decades. Second, it analyzes the ways in which governmental and nongovernmental anti‐tobacco advocates have framed their arguments. Using a seminal article by Donley Studlar (2008) as its point of departure, this paper employs data from annual reports, press releases, and advertising campaigns to explore the similarities and differences in the antismoking strategies and messaging of two government agencies (the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and two advocacy groups (the Truth Initiative and the Campaign for Tobacco‐Free Kids) from 2009 to 2019. The analysis reveals an ongoing tension between themes of industry denormalization (which generates arguments grounded in morality) and harm reduction (which generates a more regulatory approach to policymaking) in modern tobacco control policy.