PSCI Extra 1 Lobbying

Zikra  Toure   10/04/2015   Extra  Credit  Assignment:  Thank  you  for  smoking       This  movie  is  centered  on  Nick  Naylor  (Aaron  Eckhart),  vice  president  of  the  Academy  of   Snuff  Studies,  an  organization  that  aims  to  find  the  relationship  between  cigarette  smoking   and  any  possible  harm  to  consumers.  Their  research,  primarily  funded  by  tobacco   industries,  claim  to  have  found  no  definitive  link  between  snuff  and  lung  cancer.  Nick’s   special  ability  is  to  talk  and  persuade,  just  like  a  good  lobbyist.  His  job  mainly  consists  of   reporting  the  research  to  the  public  while  defending  big  tobacco  industries  on  television,   casting  doubts  in  public  mind  and  supporting  personal  choice.       In  this  movie,  we  observe  the  practice  of  indirect  lobbying,  which  is  indirectly  influence   decision  making  and  public  opinion.  A  problem  arises,  which  is  the  decline  in  tobacco  sales.   Nick  then  had  the  idea  of  using  a  new  marketing  strategy,  which  is  embedded  marketing.   This  consisted  of  including  tobacco  references  in  commercials  or  movies.  We  also  see  the   use  of  grassroots  type  of  lobbying.  Nick  went  to  LA  trying  to  convince  people  to  place   cigarettes  in  upcoming  movies.  By  this,  he  is  able  to  influence  the  population,  which   influences  decision  makers.       We  also  notice  the  dark  side  of  lobbying,  which  is  what  the  general  public  thinks  lobbying  is.   Nick  was  sent  to  bribe  a  once  cigarette  advocate  but  now  cancer  advocate  for  his  silence.  

We  also  witness  the  kidnapping  and  torturing  of  Nick  by  the  opposite  side,  mainly  senator   Finistirre.  This  shows  how  dirty  under-­‐table  lobbying  can  be.       “Thank  you  for  smoking”  was  a  good  depiction  of  the  information  we  received  in  class  about   lobbying.  Lobbying  can  be  done  under  different  form  directly  of  indirectly.  The  methods   vary  based  on  what  type  of  government  action  is  being  influence.  At  the  end  of  the  day,   lobbying  is  just  sharing  of  information,  which  was  what  Nick  was  mainly  applying.