BAT Kills Millions, But in a Socially Responsible Manner

Bob Burton and Andy Rowell deconstruct the "social responsibility report" of British American Tobacco, the world's second largest tobacco company, in the latest PR Watch. Among their findings, "BAT's social report disclosed that three of its employees had been killed and 37 involved in serious accidents during 2001, but omitted any estimate of the number of people who had been killed or seriously affected by consuming its products. ... If BAT had complied with this component of the GRI guidelines, its social responsibility report would have included the approximate one million people expected to die prematurely each year for the next three decades from using its products--a figure that Action on Smoking and Health derives from World Health Organization estimates." (Our subscribing members received this issue already last month. Please consider becoming a subscriber. Donations from people like you are what make our work possible.)