Secondhand Smoke Makes News

Media ideas to promote smokefree policies and compliance with smokefree legislation

By Cecilia Farren, GASP Consultancy (Cecilia@gasp.org.uk)

for Smokefree Action

Funded by Cancer Research UK

The aim of the ‘Secondhand Smoke Makes News’ guide is:  

To provide ideas and strategies to maximise the use of the media to promote public and employer support for smokefree workplaces in before and after the law and to encourage early voluntary implementation of smokefree policies in public places and workplaces.

Introduction

Media advocacy and unpaid publicity are effective strategies to enable the move towards a smokefree society.  Smokefree public places and workplaces legislation provides many opportunities to re-emphasise the benefit this law will make to public health by protecting people who don’t smoke and by encouraging smokers to quit and those who have quit, to stay stopped and young people not to start. 

Keeping the issue of secondhand smoke in the public eye offers the chance to urge employers to act now and not wait until the legislation compels them.  Media advocacy can also help the non-smoking majority to understand the strong scientific and medical evidence that secondhand smoke is not just a nuisance but also a serious health risk.  This will help to empower them to demand clear indoor air, to welcome comprehensive legislation and to enforce the regulations when the law is implemented.

The tobacco industry has campaigned vigorously to prevent smokefree legislation for over 25 years.  They see it as one of the biggest threats to their profits and have discredited and actively prevented policy makers, the public and health professionals from knowing the truth about the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.   Tobacco companies have created controversy around the effects of breathing other people’s tobacco smoke where no controversy exists.  Respected scientists and medical authorities worldwide have shown that secondhand smoke is dangerous.    The tobacco industry has paid PR agencies and scientists to disprove the facts and they continue to argue for tobacco industry friendly alternatives to comprehensive legislation. 

Media advocates still need to be prepared for aggressive tobacco industry sponsored responses to the legislation from the industry and its allies such as celebrity smokers, policy makers or pub and restaurant associations.  The tobacco industry has a lot to lose and they will fight it all the way.  This guide sets out suggestions for media strategies to help the advocate to frame the issue and to help the public and policy makers towards the successful implementation of smokefree legislation.

Who are our targets?

Policy makers, MPs, House of Lords, Parliamentary Health Committee, local authorities and those charged with finalising and implementing the legislation

Employers, workers, Health & Safety reps, unions in all workplaces but in particular those where smoking is still permitted such as bars, pubs, casinos and restaurants

The public, smokers and non-smokers to know the facts and respect and enforce the law

Parents who need to understand the risks in order to protect their children from secondhand smoke.

What are our key messages?

It is a health and safety issue

It is good for business and it is good for health

We want a smokefree legislation sooner rather than later

Smokefree legislation works and is popular

Who do they need to hear it from?

Journalists and the public get bored hearing from the same spokesperson saying the same thing about public health and secondhand smoke.  Depending on who you want to influence and what you want to say then you need to think about who is the best person is to put across the message.  Maybe a doctor or an academic is better for certain messages, members of the public for other messages. You can always brief the right person to deliver the message you want putting across.  Think about who has clout with different levels of policy makers.  Health ministers are answerable to the cabinet and health service managers are answerable to health ministers.  Politicians are influenced by who appoints them or who elects them.  Business executives are answerable to a board of directors, managers of bars and restaurants are influenced by their customers and what other people in the hospitality industry are doing and saying.  Newspaper letters pages are a way to reach all of the above groups but the writer of the letter will influence different people.  You need to encourage any quotes in press releases and interviews or photo-calls to involve relevant people for the target groups.

Media strategies to reach the target groups

What do the media need?

The ‘NOW’ factor

Deciding what messages you want to promote in your publicity is one thing but choosing the most relevant and newsworthy issue is another.  The media are only interested in things that have that elusive ‘NOW’ factor.  Newsworthy ‘NOW’ factors are things that are of local interest and have a new angle or new information. 

The national and regional press releases for the smokefree workplace legislation will be sent out from ASH, the national Smokefree Action Coalition and regional Alliances.  The easiest way to use the figures locally is to adapt the national and regional news stories to your own PCT or area.  But hopefully you will create your own angles to attract a local story which will complement but be different from the national and regional angles. 

It is best to try and attract media opportunities targeted at the broadcast and print media.   So if you have a story to put out to the media :  

Think visually and set up a photo opportunity that tells the story 

Think TV and radio and get good interviewees with something happening in the background.

Think news and features for local press.  Simplify statistics and give the story you want the stats to tell.

A Dozen Dazzling Smokefree Story Strategies to Gain Access to the Media

1. Research and surveys are more likely to get media coverage than other strategies.   Either use other people’s research and adapt it for local use or carry out local research and surveys.

·        Carry out a local version of any national attitude surveys.  Do people welcome the legislation?   What do workers feel about the law?

·        Benefits of smokefree policies.  Ask employers with smokefree policies how it benefits their workplace.  Are employees happier?  Healthier?  Has it saved money in cleaning and insurance?  Has it solved any staff problems or caused any?  Has it been good for customer care?  Has it been good for business in general?

·        Use CO monitor tests to indicate how much CO is in the bloodstream of a non-smoker in a smoky atmosphere.  It demonstrates clearly how secondhand smoke can harm non-smokers. 

·        Study results from places with smokefree legislation such as Ireland , Scotland , New Zealand or New York and compare sales, employment or tax revenues to demonstrate that bans are good for business.  Predict how these results would impact on local hospitality industry and other businesses. 

·        Carry out a survey of British attitudes towards the smokefree laws in New York, Ireland , Italy , California, Norway , New Zealand , Scotland etc.  Ask smokers and non-smokers, who have visited places with smokefree legislation, what they thought of the laws in practice.  Find local Irish, Scots or Italians willing to be interviewed about their countries’ laws. 

·        If you have a local airport, survey people who have just arrived back from ‘smokefree’ destinations.  Include anecdotes and comments and integrate some of the best into your publicity. 

2. Creative Epidemiology

Creative epidemiology is ‘bringing alive’ relevant statistics about secondhand smoke in the workplaces by localising them and creating visual representations of the statistics.  These provide the local media with a news story or a photo opportunity.  For example secondhand smoke kills about 50 hospitality workers a year or one a week.  Represent each week from now until the law comes into force with a person dressed as a waiter or waitress lying down as if dead. Or calculate how many bar and waiting staff in your area are at risk of dying from diseases caused by secondhand smoke.  If you have 200 pubs and 500 bar staff breathing in the same amount of tobacco smoke per shift as someone who has smoked 5 cigarettes, then each day local bar workers are being forced to ‘smoke’ the equivalent of  2,500 cigarettes a day.  Argue the case for smokefree workplaces NOW!   Here are statistics you could be creative with:  

·        Secondhand smoke kills 3 times more workers than accidents in the workplace.  You can emphasise this with a long list of all the industrial causes of accidents – electrocution, drowning, poisoning, falls, crushing, etc and the number on large boards. 

·        About one is 13 adults has asthma (and about one in 8 children).  Apply this to the local population and publicise the number of people with asthma who are particularly at risk from secondhand smoke.  In a town with a population 400,000 there are about 30,000 adults with asthma.  Population figures are obtainable from the Strategic Health Authority). See www.smokefreeaction.org.uk for examples of workers with asthma who have claimed against employers.

·        Pregnant women and their babies are at risk from secondhand smoke and are protected by law from secondhand smoke.  Find out the number of women working in bars and restaurants and what % of the adult female population is pregnant at any one time and estimate how many pregnant women working in the local hospitality industry are at risk.   

·        Use No Smoking Day’s research to predict local smokers who will quit because of the ban.   

·        Use the numbers of adults predicted to quit, to highlight the numbers of children who will benefit if their parents quit.  About 40% of children are exposed to tobacco smoke in the home.  With a reduction in parental smoking, estimate the number of children who will be protected from SHS.   

·        In England and Wales there are 2.75 million workers exposed constantly at work and 9 million exposed to smoke sometimes.  Calculate the numbers of people exposed to secondhand smoke in your area and therefore how many will be protected when the ban comes into place. 

·        Show employers the cost savings they will make from workplaces being smokefree.  Include less illness, better productivity, less cleaning, lower insurance etc.  Calculate a typical saving for small medium and large employers.  One PCT calculated that smokers cost an employer £1117 per annum.

·        Compare the numbers dying from diseases caused by secondhand smoke every year to those who lost their lives on the Titanic when1,500 lives were lost.

3. Human interest and testimonials

The media and the public like real life, human interest stories.  Even if you use another issue as your main news story, it is more powerful if you can illustrate your story with relevant case studies. Here are suggestions for testimonials to promote the case for smokefree workplaces:

·        Success breeds success!  Talent spot for good news stories in your local area such as good smokefree policies in practice, people who have quit because of smokefree policies, employees who enjoy working in a smokefree restaurant, first year results from a restaurant that went smokefree. 

·        Find a pregnant woman working in a smoky workplace or someone with a condition or illness caused by or aggravated by tobacco smoke – angina, asthma, ear infections, coughs or eye problems.  Highlight the urgency of making workplaces smokefree.    

·        Make your own ‘vox pops’ video or radio tape of the managers, staff and customers of bars and pubs that have gone smokefree or have not yet gone smokefree to explore the issues and present some of the solutions and positive aspects.

·        Gather anecdotes and personal testimonials from bar and pub workers.  Try to get comments from bar workers from a range of social class areas.

·        Use examples of pub licensees who have smokefree policies or who welcome the new law.  Their comments are more persuasive for others working in the hospitality trade. 

·        Find licensees who have quit or who want to quit for a story angle that raises the issue of smokefree workplaces helping smokers to who want to quit, to do so and those who have quit, to stay stopped. 

·         Run a quit group or one-to-one advice and support for licensees and their staff. Arrange it at a time they can make - mornings or closing times.  Include customers in the group as well.  Name it ‘Calling time on smoking’, ‘Last orders for smoking’ or the ‘George & the Dragon’ Quit Group’.

·        Find local Irish, Italians, Californians, New Yorkers, Norwegians, New Zealanders and Scots and interview them about how they feel about their countries’ smokefree laws.  Gather anecdotes and invite those with good communication skills to speak on radio or TV.   Hearing about the success and popularity of smokefree laws from people who have seen it work in practice is more convincing.   

·        Look at others who work in smoky clubs and pubs such as bouncers or musicians and how SHS can affect their ability to work.  Roy Castle is the best known case of a non-smoker who died of lung cancer from playing as a musician in smoky clubs.  Interviews musicians about how smoking affects their work.  Find musicians who include a smoke ban as part of their contract to play.  Contact local Musicians’ Union and ask for their opinion or for testimonials.  The Musicians’ Union supports smokefree indoor laws for their members.    

4. Turning tables on Tobacco Industry

The tobacco industry and its front organisation FOREST have consistently denied that secondhand smoke is harmful despite Government scientific reports to the contrary.   No tobacco industry or FOREST statement about secondhand smoke should go unchallenged.   When FOREST writes letters to local newspapers write in response to counter what they say.  They routinely offer courtesy, ventilation and separate sections as solutions.  Smokefree Action website www.smokefreeaction.org,uk  has responses to these statements of misinformation to help you write a letter to the press challenging their statements.    

·        Look on the FOREST website www.forestonline.org and find out what they say about secondhand smoke and set out to counter what they say.  Show them for being unscientific and unrepresentative.

·        Challenge FOREST for supposedly representing smokers’ views.  FOREST represents the tobacco industry NOT smokers!  Look at existing surveys or carry out your own to find out what smokers think of smokefree laws and the legislation.  Many smokers support the law and welcome the chance to quit.  Point out the contradictions of the so-called ‘smokers’ rights’ group.

·        Hold a debate about the secondhand smoke.  Invite FOREST to present their case.  You will need a good chair to ensure others have their say. 

5. Piggybacking on current new items

Every day there are stories and issues that become the focus of the news media for a short time.  If you want to create a story about secondhand smoke with the ‘NOW’ factor you might like to try ‘Piggybacking’. This is when you link your story to an issue in the news.  Be careful about what you choose as the hook.    Linking the number of deaths from SHS to a recent disaster would not be in good taste. 

Examples of where this has been done successfully include: 

·        When Perrier water and other soft drinks have been recalled because of benzene traces, campaigners have linked the fact that secondhand smoke contains benzene and called for secondhand smoke in public places to be ‘recalled’.     

·        Levels of pollution in cities have been compared to levels of pollution of indoor air.

·        The scare about bird flu prompted the comparison that leaving hospitality workers unprotected from second-hand smoke at work was like vaccinating everyone, except the most at risk, against bird flu.  

·        Big events such as the Olympics, World Cup, City of Culture or any large sporting or cultural event allow the issue of a smoking policy to be raised and discussed in the media.

·        Political and economic pronouncements have been used to highlight how the health, environment and economy can benefit from the smokefree law.

·        Seat belts and congestion charging have shown that legislation can be successful and popular.

6. Dates in diary

The calendar and annual festivals and events can provide endless prompts for media ideas.  From New Year’s resolutions to give up secondhand smoke in January, to the 12 Days of Smokefree Christmas in December there are many stories and publicity angles you can create to pick up on annual festivals. 

Here are a few suggestions:

·        December 31^st - New Year’s Eve – Make resolutions to give up breathing secondhand smoke.  Publicise tips to non-smokers on how to say no to SHS and what we can do to protect ourselves.  Refer to www.smokefreeaction.org.uk   for a Guide on how to say ‘NO’ to SHS. 

·        February 14^th – Valentine’s Day – send Valentines to managers asking them to go smokefree before the law, or cards to MPs thanking them for voting for the smokefree law.

Dear Valentine, our beloved MP

Thanks for the help to make workplaces smokefree

We yearn for the day when clean air is by law

And stinking clothes and coughs are nevermore   

·        March – No Smoking Day – take the theme of the year and try to adapt it to the secondhand smoke theme.  See what others are doing and do likewise.  www.nosmokingday.org.uk

·        Mothers’ Day, International Women’s Day – Focus on mothers or women who work in low paid jobs exposed to secondhand smoke.  Highlight how many women in the hospitality industry could be pregnant at any one time and therefore at risk of harming their babies by breathing in SHS. 

·        March 17^th St Patrick’s Day – call upon Irish pubs to be smokefree - as they would be in Ireland . 

·        Christmas – Invite Santa to give out  no smoking signs

·        Decorate a smokefree Christmas trees with baubles painted smokefree messages and no smoking signs decorated with glitter etc.

·        Send cards thanking MPs for the vote, or urging them to do it soon with the message – We’ll be in heaven with a smokefree 2007!

·        Send Christmas cards to managers and licensees urging them to go smokefree.

·        Write and perform carols with smokefree wording.

7. Photo Opportunity – visual ideas as photo opps and to add to other stories

A picture speaks a thousand words. Getting a photo in the paper or good visuals in the local TV news is more likely to attract the attention of the readers, viewers and listeners.  Think visual.  You should always try to tell the story in pictures without the need for captions.  Think about what setting would set the scene, what action can be taking place to make a good visual and what props would add impact.  Add wording and slogans on banners or T-shirts or placards.   The media – including the radio – like visual action.  Even if you are doing a serious news story or feature consider adding a photo opportunity to the press release.  This will give the story added value or it would give two bites of the media cherry.  Sometimes the press will have a photo with a short story and then another day it will carry a longer editorial piece.  Have extra props to hand for a photographer to choose from whenever you do a photo-call.  

·        Paint, stick or sew letters or numbers onto T-shirts to tell a message.  2,750,000 ( to represent the number of people who work in smoke-filled air) slogans such as No Smoking or Clear the Air or spell out the website address smokefreeaction.org.uk

·        Wear gas masks (available at surplus stores) to present a petition or a letter to a manager of a smoky bar, or to hand out information in smoky locations. 

·        Boot Big Cig or any cigarette costume out of a smokefree bar, restaurant or transport.

·        Gather large groups of people on an open space to create an ‘aerial sculpture’.  Either by wearing different coloured clothes or holding up balloons of different colours create shapes such as a giant no smoking sign for the press to photograph from a tall building. 

·        Make a display of jars and potions and objects that represent the poisons in tobacco smoke.  Make a mock mix of the chemicals and ask if anyone minds if you spray around. 

·        Get coffee mugs or beer glasses overprinted with a smokefree logo or a slogan and have a photo of people toasting the new smokefree policy with the cups or glasses.

·        Have a ‘celebrity’ at your launch or event.  Visit the local fancy dress or joke shop and see what masks or outfits are on display and have your pick of a celebrity.  Or create historic or fictitious characters such as Sir Walter Raleigh, James I reading his Counterblaste to Tobacco, Count Tobacula, Superman, BAT man, SmokeFree Wonder Woman etc.

·        Get people with well known names to make statements about secondhand smoke.  For example one alliance found a tall landlord called Ben whose pub was going smokefree to hold a clock for a photo opp with the caption “Big Ben calls time on secondhand smoke in the bar.”  

·        Make a smokefree banner, stall or float for any community event or procession. 

·        Set up a ‘Secondhand Smoke Kills’ stall with models showing the effects of SHS such as ‘Innocent Smoker’ model or ‘Puffing Poisons’ chemistry set showing some of the poisons in tobacco smoke. 

·        Run a DIY smokefree signs workshop and photograph the adults or children holding up the signs they have painted or made from paper collage.   

·        Use face paints to create no smoking signs on the face or cheek.  Take photos of the final artwork (with parental permission for children).  

·        Set up a display of no smoking posters from around the world

·        Use an electronic or paper countdown of days until the start of the smokefree law. 

·        Gather a group of children (with parental permission) and dress 4 out of ten of them in black to show the numbers of children still exposed to SHS in the home.   

·        Use a well known local statue of a person and tie on no-smoking signs or attach a placard or put on a campaign t-shirt.  Get permission!

·        Ask for a group of volunteers to hold placards to represent the diseases linked to secondhand smoke. 

8. Celebrities/Sports People

The media are always interested in stories involving celebrities, dignitaries and sports people.  Find out if any local ‘famous’ people are supportive of the legislation and get them involved in some way.  If you can’t get access to a real celebrity, then use celebrity look-alikes, name sakes of famous people, or use masks and dressing up.  With a bit of ingenuity you can have the celebrity of your choice at your publicity event.

·        Survey local celebrities or sports personalities about what they think of secondhand smoke and publicise your findings.  Identify spokespeople to present the case for smokefree legislation.  

·        Use framed or mounted film star photos (taken out of film or celebrity mags or books) with smokefree messages of support written underneath – like they have in nightclubs and casinos.  Write messages – as if from the celebrity – with things like “The smokefree air was fabulous!  I’ll be back”

·        Buy books of old films from the remainder shops and tear out the photos of smoking scenes.  Write witty captions underneath commenting on how the smoking spoiled the atmosphere.   

·        Invite celebrities to award prizes or awards for smokefree action.

·        Ask sports teams or local or visiting celebrities to pose for photos wearing t-shirts with a smokefree message on.  Or ask them to hold a poster, a no smoking sign etc. But get that photo!    Most small towns get visiting celebrities for the annual Panto so try to link the message with those character. 

·        Ask a celebrity to opening a smokefree shopping centre.

·        Create celebrities by using local celebrity name sakes.  For example “Robbie Williams launches smoke-free policy in the shopping centre”,   “The Simpsons give a thumbs up to the smokefree family pub”.  Try finding a Tony Blair, David Cameron, Liz Hurley, Michael Jackson, Katie Holmes, etc.

·        Ask sports people or teams to wear campaign T-shirts, or giving a quote about secondhand smoke or going smokefree at a match. 

·        If any famous names appear at your local concert venue try to ask their press agent for a quote about secondhand smoke and if they prefer smoking or smokefree venues.   

9. Competitions, challenges and awards

Competitions are a useful way of getting several bites of the media cherry.  You can launch the competition, you can release a progress report of entries and then you can release winners’ names and have a photo-opportunity of the prize giving.

·        Letter writing competitions are a good way of motivating people - the public, students or professionals to write letters to the media, to politicians, to managers etc by offering prizes for the best letters. 

·        National Clean Air Awards are a good way to attract publicity for any local businesses that achieve the prestigious Silver or Gold awards.  They are an excellent way to keep smokefree policies in the news before the law comes into force.  Contact www.cleanairaward.org.uk  

·        Run poster competitions for artwork to promote smokefree workplaces, pubs etc.   

·        Caption or slogan competitions offer those not so good at art a chance to win a prize and for you to create publicity.  Find a cartoon, an illustration or a film still of a situation where a cigarette or cigar is being lit up in an indoor situation and invite people to add a smokefree caption.

·        Use a poster image or photo and invite people to add the best ‘smokefree’ slogan.

·        Organise a colouring competition.  Provide a simple picture that promotes smokefree homes and cars or smokefree air and challenge children in different age bands to colour in the picture.  You can get publicity with a display of the entries and with the prize-giving at schools or community events.  

·        Set up a ‘Karaoke’ or song writing competition.  Invite people to write smokefree wording for well known songs and karaoke favourites.  Winning entries could be performed on the local radio. 

·        Set up limerick competition.  Give a first line e.g. My local is going smoke-free, …

·        Link competitions to dates in the calendar such as the best smokefree Easter Bonnet, Mother’s day poem or Smokefree World Cup Football slogan.

10. New resources and training – Posters, leaflets, beer mats, stickers, banners

If you are producing or distributing any new resources about the smokefree legislation or smokefree policies it is worth sending out a press release explaining the purpose of the resource and with a copy of the resource.  The more interesting the resource the more likely you are to interest the media.  The resources can be: Leaflets, posters, signs, beer mats, staff information, Questions & Answers for managers, banners, doormats or signs on the outside of buildings.

·        Run training and briefings on how to implement the law and highlight problems and solutions to accommodating smokers. Send out a press briefing.

·        Publicise and run training for hospitality staff on how to ask customers not to smoke.

·        Offer personalised advice on signage and setting up outside areas and write features with the same advice for the local press.   

11. Introducing new policies

Launching smokefree policies can still make the news.  You can add the message that workplaces are getting ahead of the law and will benefit as a result.  Inform the media when new policies are being launched for any workplace or public place including pubs, shopping malls or NHS premises.  It would increase the newsworthiness if you add some public opinion research or a photo opportunity linked to the launch.  It helps if you add on information about what help is available for smokers who want to quit when the new policy is in place.  NHS policies are of interest particularly when they focus on areas not included previously - such as no-smoking in the grounds, in long stay wards and policies protecting NHS staff from secondhand smoke when visiting patients at home. 

·        Pubs, bars and to a lesser extent restaurants going smokefree are always of interest to the media.  Whenever you find any pubs that have gone smokefree use it as a good case study story. 

·        Shopping centres and covered market places going smokefree attract interest and offer the opportunity for doing training with staff on asking smokers who light up to go outside.

·        The local paper might be interested in features in the business, finance or news pages presenting a guide to introducing smokefree policies.

12. Proactive information giving

Information talks about secondhand smoke and smokefree legislation, even if no new information is being presented, can be newsworthy if a local link is made.  If the context is of interest or the information has specific relevance to the local area or if there are statistics relating to the region then it may well be newsworthy.  So make sure you press release any information you publish or distribute or if you are giving a talk or setting up a display or stall at any event.

·        Give talks to prepare local licensed victuallers for the smokefree legislation and press release the contents of your talk.

·        Make presentations to the Chamber of Commerce or other business associations.

·        Contact trades unions and send information, make presentations or set up displays about smokefree legislation and implementation with reference to how it will benefit union members. 

·        Set up stalls or displays about secondhand smoke and the plans for the new legislation at business seminars, lunches, conferences or in central commercial positions. 

·        Identify spokespeople such as public health specialists and GPs who can be interviewed about existing research and any new research about secondhand smoke and use every opportunity to keep the public informed about the case for smokefree legislation as soon as possible.    

Good luck with your publicity and let us have any good examples you want to share with others.