Ethical responsibility and accountability in tobacco industry PR

Social Responsibility Framework

Jamie's role as a public relations director in a tobacco company would be a difficult position to fill and would require a great deal of perseverance to overcome many of the obstacles that she faced on regular basis. On one hand, the link between tobacco products and the ill effects to people's health that they cause are quite clear. However, on the other hand, the responsibility for the negative health consequences associated with smoking tobacco is far less clear. Although tobacco companies undoubtedly supply the products that are associated with the harmful effects, they do not force consumers to use these products. Therefore, there should be some element of personal responsibility considered in the ethical framework.

For example, a great majority of the people that use these products are fully aware that they are doing so with consequences to their health. Despite knowing about the adverse effects of using tobacco, tobacco consumers use these products regardless. Therefore, on the aggregate level, such as the one used in a public health perspective, the responsibility has to be a combination of complex array of factors. However, there have also been cases in which tobacco producers or resellers have purposely mislead consumers about the associated health risks in which case the liability would be heavily skewed towards the tobacco companies. Yet, for the most part nearly all parties involved in the sale and purchasing tobacco products understand the risks on at least a broad level.

From Jane's perspective, it may appear to her that her part in business may be actually beneficial to society. For example, the market is full of tobacco products and if Jane's company went out of business tomorrow, these consumers would likely simply switch to purchasing other tobacco brands. Thus the role of Jane's company could seem insignificant in the grand scheme of tobacco sales. Furthermore, the case mentions how Jane has worked hard to make the company more socially responsible in many regards.

Jane has made many socially sustainable changes in the company such as guiding the company's charitable contributions to different causes as well as helping employees to volunteer for different causes. Although these efforts are certainly beneficial, they are also overshadowed by the type of business and industry she is operating in. Regardless of the company's performance along many social causes, many people in the community will see the company as inherently evil and make no distinction between Jane's tobacco company and any others. Anything that Jane communicates to these members of the society will likely fall short of their expectations.