Keywords: power, alcohol policy, tobacco policy, alcohol industry, tobacco industry

Abstract

Abstract

Aims: Transnational alcohol and tobacco corporations are expanding operations in Southeast Asia. This study has two objectives: to examine the power of the tobacco and alcohol industries in shaping tobacco and alcohol policies in the Philippines and Singapore, and to identify key lessons and challenges for alcohol and tobacco control.

Methods:  We developed a conceptual framework from the literature on power and political, commercial, and legal determinants of health. We conducted a literature review and content analysis of official government documents, corporate documents, and news articles on the tactics of the alcohol and tobacco industries. To triangulate findings, we also conducted a thematic analysis of 30 interviews that we conducted in the Philippines and Singapore.

Findings:  Transnational and national alcohol and tobacco corporations used various tactics to influence the policy process for alcohol and tobacco control in the Philippines and Singapore. These industries utilised lobbying, litigation or threat of litigation, revolving doors, and marketing to exercise their instrumental power. They exercised their structural power by exploiting their market dominance and promoting public-private partnerships and alcohol marketing self-regulation. In the Philippines, the tobacco industry benefitted from regulatory capture. Both industries tapped framing tactics, corporate social responsibility, and public-private partnerships to exert their discursive power.

Conclusions:  Our study detailed how the alcohol and tobacco industries have exercised their instrumental, structural, and discursive power to influence and interfere in alcohol and tobacco control policies in the Philippines and Singapore. Less regulated, the alcohol industry retains an advantage over the tobacco industry in both countries.

Author Biographies

Gianna Gayle Amul, University of Geneva

Gianna Gayle Herrera Amul is a self-funded Filipino PhD student at the Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva in Switzerland. She is currently a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the School of Government, Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. 

Jean-Francois Etter, Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva

Jean-François Etter is a professor of public health at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva in Switzerland. 

How to Cite

Amul, G. G., & Etter, J.-F. (2023). Examining the power of the alcohol and tobacco industries in policymaking: Lessons and challenges for the Philippines and Singapore. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 12(S1), S37–S51. https://doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.417

Section

Special Issue: Alcohol Prevention Research and Policy Development in LMICs

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