title: "Fighting a hurricane": tobacco industry efforts to counter the perceived threat of Islam.
abstract: Islamic countries are of key importance to transnational tobacco companies as growing markets with increasing smoking rates. We analyzed internal tobacco industry documents to assess the industry's response to rising concerns about tobacco use within Islamic countries. The tobacco industry perceived Islam as a significant threat to its expansion into these emerging markets. To counter these concerns, the industry framed antismoking views in Islamic countries as fundamentalist and fanatical and attempted to recruit Islamic consultants to portray smoking as acceptable. Tobacco industry lawyers also helped develop theological arguments in favor of smoking. These findings are valuable to researchers and policymakers seeking to implement culturally appropriate measures in Islamic countries under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
authors.affiliation: At the time of the study, Mark Petticrew was with the Social and Environmental Health Research Department, and Kelley Lee was with the Global Health Department, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. Kelley Lee is also with the Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby British Columbia, Canada. Rima Nakkash is with the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. Haider Ali is with the Department for Strategy and Marketing, Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, England.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petticrew
authors.forename: Kelley
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Haider
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Rima
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nakkash
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008119:Lobbying; D040541:Marketing; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D019460:Tobacco Industry