Givel Michael
Department of Political Science, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
J Health Commun. 2007 Jun;12(4):339-57. doi: 10.1080/10810730701326002.
Throughout the 1990s, health advocates engaged in a significant mobilization against the dangers of tobacco use and the tobacco industry. In 1993, the tobacco industry counter-mobilized through the National Smokers Alliance (NSA), a public relations created front group funded by the tobacco industry, which operated nationally from 1994 to 1999 to advocate for adults using tobacco products without vigorous regulation or increased tobacco taxes. The mobilization by health groups utilized traditional political lobbying and education of the public and public officials without a national public relations created front group to mold public opinion. The counter-mobilization by the NSA was based on traditional lobbying approaches in conjunction with the use of the public relations oriented consent engineering theory of Edward Bernays, Harold Lasswell, and others. This consent engineering theory calls for public relations specialists using public relations to mold public opinion to support a client's preferred public policy outputs. Despite the use of traditional lobbying in conjunction with the use of public relations efforts, attempts by the NSA to dominate public policy to weaken or neutralize stronger tobacco regulations and taxes were effective only for some campaigns.
在整个20世纪90年代，健康倡导者们积极动员起来，反对烟草使用及烟草行业带来的危害。1993年，烟草行业通过全国吸烟者联盟（NSA）进行了反击，该联盟是烟草行业资助成立的一个公关幌子组织，从1994年至1999年在全国范围内运作，主张成年人使用烟草制品，而无需严格监管或提高烟草税。健康组织的动员活动采用了传统的政治游说方式，并对公众和政府官员进行教育，没有借助全国性公关幌子组织来塑造公众舆论。NSA的反击基于传统游说方式，并结合了爱德华·伯尼斯、哈罗德·拉斯韦尔等人提出的以公关为导向的同意工程理论。这种同意工程理论要求公关专家利用公关手段塑造公众舆论，以支持客户偏好的公共政策结果。尽管NSA既采用了传统游说方式，又开展了公关活动，但它主导公共政策以削弱或抵消更严格的烟草法规和税收的企图，仅在部分活动中取得了成效。
