A Smokeout Can Be a Hot Potato

Hannah Paragon and Olivia Brock

Eastern Kentucky University

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Introduction

In this case, we are newly promoted associate account executives at W. L. Fixit

Associates, a public relations firm in Piedmont, California. Piedmont is a city that has long

thrived thanks to the tobacco industry. The company’s CEO and founder, Mr. Fixit, is an

important individual in the area. Two of the firms biggest clients include our account, Piedmont

General Hospital, and the local chapter of United Way.

United Way has committed to put on the “Great American Smokeout,” a day where the

American Cancer Society promotes not smoking. It is typically a day where some smokers do

not smoke (in hopes of quitting entirely), survival kits are handed out, designated smoking areas

may be removed, etc. This year, United Way has requested that Fixit put on a one day event at

the hospital and involve all of its clients.

While hosting the event at the hospital may seem like a great idea as it would be

promoting a healthier lifestyle, it is not that simple. The immediate issue we are facing is that

Piedmont General Hospital’s largest contributor is a tobacco company in Winston. While Fixit

could say no to taking on this event, that may do more harm than good for the company. Our job

then becomes to come up with an event that, “makes us look good enough to nonsmokers and the

United Way without doing damage to our relationship with the hospital administration” (Center,

Jackson, Smith, and Stansberry, 2014).

Further Research

Before defining objectives and the activities of our program, conducting further research

is necessary. It is important to fully understand what the Great American Smokeout is, as well as

understand its mission. Since the Great American Smokeout is an annual event conducted by the
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American Cancer Society, it may also be beneficial to learn about the other tobacco free related

initiatives they have implemented. By understanding the American Cancer Society’s objectives

and the activities they conduct, it has the potential to help develop a framework for Fixit’s

participation in the Great American Smokeout.

Aside from understanding the Great American Smokeout, other information that will be

useful while defining our own objectives includes looking at other companies who have

participated in the event, examples of successful tobacco free programs within companies, and

information on demographics specifically looking at smokers in North Carolina. Having this

additional information will help us understand our target demographic and potentially identify

the best ways to reach our publics.. It will also help us to see what practical tobacco free

programs look like within an organization. Even though the event, and implementation of a

tobacco free program, is only for one day, having examples is always helpful when developing a

plan.

Anticipated Concerns

There are a few different people we plan to consult in preparation for this event. We will

begin by talking to United Way about the purpose and goals for the event. Gaining support for

the event from all parties will be much easier if we know exactly what we are dealing with. Next,

we will simply speak to key publics and inform them of the program ideas. One important public

we plan to talk to is stakeholders, such as hospital administration, to explain what they can gain

from participation in the event. Talking to key publics will allow us to gauge what each group

hopes to gain from the event in order to keep everyone happy. Additionally, it will allows us to

better understand and anticipate issues that could arise.

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Some concerns that we have going into the event include damaging Fixit’s relationship

with either party, offending tobacco users, and causing an issue between the two organizations.

In order to combat these issues, we will keep the lines of communication open, remain

transparent, and have a crisis management plan in place. Keeping the lines of communication

open will allow each party to express concerns and for those concerns to be resolved with ease.

Transparency throughout the process is vital because our organization cannot appear to be hiding

anything from either party. If for whatever reason it appears that we are trying to hide something,

that would put us at immediate risk of a crisis.

If a crisis were to arise, we will be prepared with a crisis management plan (CMP).

Though it is impossible to be prepared for every possible scenario, the plan could at least serve

as a guide for dealing with whatever may arise. Unprepared organizations have the most to lose.

Our CMP will be centered around identifying all potential crises and possible solutions for them.

Defining Objectives

While making our plan for participating in the “Great American Smokeout,” we have

four objectives to help guide our decisions. The first objective is to keep open two-way

communication with the hospital staff and ensure that the activities for the “Great American

Smokeout” do not directly single out tobacco users. Since the hospital’s largest contributor is a

tobacco company, we want to ensure that our programs/activities do not feel forced onto the

employees. Ensuring that we establish open communication with the employees will allow us to

know if who they feel about our day of participation in the “Great American Smokeout” as well

as easily address any questions or concerns they may have.

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Our second objective is to inform those employed by Piedmont General Hospital, who

either do or do not use tobacco products, about the risks associated with using tobacco products.

According to America’s Health Ranking, 17.9% of North Carolina’s population are smokers,

which is higher than the national average (AHR,2017). Considering that Piedmont, NC is a city

that has thrived on tobacco growing and manufacturing, it’s most likely that current staff

members are smokers, or they know someone who smokes. This means that everyone has

potential benefit from education on the risks of using tobacco products for your personal health

as well as the impact on the health of bystanders. The American Cancer Society has several

toolkits available with educational information that can be used at a presentation about the

dangers of tobacco use and how to combat tobacco use. All of which will be beneficial in

creating an informed public.

Our third objective is to create educational experiences and activities that all hospital

staff can participate in throughout out the day. Once again, ensuring that we create an exclusive

experience will hopefully help lessen the chance of offending any tobacco users, especially the

hospital’s administrators and contributors. Looking at past participants in the “Great American

Smokeout,” one company that stood out with their activities was Healthways, a company that

focuses on improving well-being. Some of their activities for their participation in the “Great

American Smokeout” included: ​offering those who turned in at least a half pack of tobacco

products a free “cold turkey” sandwich, ​enlist non-smokers to “adopt” smokers for the day to

support them in a day without tobacco products, and hold no-smoke breaks for everyone to step

outside for a fresh breath of air (Walter, 2010).

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For our event, we’d like to modify these ideas to fit an inclusive environment as well as

make them measurable. For example, we would like to hold a “Cold Turkey” luncheon all

hospital employees, regardless of tobacco use, and use the time that attend to go through an

educational presentation of the risks of tobacco use. A luncheon would occur for each shift, so

that everyone has a chance to attend. Another event we would like to incorporate in our program

is the no-smoke breaks where employees can come together, get some fresh air, and spend some

quality time with one another. The no-smoke breaks would occur at various time throughout the

day in order to accommodate different schedules.

Through these events, we would like to encourage those who smoke to abstain from

tobacco use, at least while they’re work, which is a small start to decreasing the amount of

tobacco users. At each of our events, we would have sign-in sheets so we can keep track of who

participated, and how many people participated in more than one event, and handout feedback

cards for them to reflect on their experience. Using this data, we can see the percentage of

hospital employees that participated overall as well as how they felt about their participation in

the event.

​Our fourth objective is to make the hospital’s participation in “Great American

Smokeout” an educational, positive, and inclusive experience for the hospital staff. We want to

ensure that everyone enjoys our events, feels included, and can walk away with important facts

surrounding tobacco use. Hopefully, by doing our best to make these goals a reality, we can

avoid ethical dilemmas and offending those who are tobacco users/supporters.
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Ethical Issues

A potential ethical issue that our firm could face is looking like it has taken a stance on

smoking, which has become a hot public issue. While choosing to take a stance on this issue

would technically be, “exercising a privilege and prerogative in the democratic process,”

(Center, Jackson, Smith, and Stansberry, 2014), it would do more harm than good for our firm.

By appearing to take a stance on this issue, we would thus unintentionally alienate the side of our

business that does not agree with that stance. In order to combat this issue, our organization will

be remaining neutral on the subject.

Additionally, if the hospital is actually receiving the majority of its funding from a

tobacco company and then promotes non-smoking, that is automatically a conflict of interest and

raises an ethical question. To combat this, it must be made clear that this is an event put on by

United Way and not at all by the hospital. While this may not be what United Way wants

exactly, it is important that the hospital protect its reputation to prevent possible crises.

Conclusion

By participating in the “Great American Smokeout,” we hope to accomplish our four

objectives: keep open two-communication with the hospital staff and ensure that the activities for

“Great American Smokeout” do not directly single out tobacco users. inform those employed by

Piedmont General Hospital who either do or do not use tobacco about the risks associated with

using tobacco products, creative educational experiences and activities that all hospital staff can

participate in throughout the day, and make the hospital’s participation in “Great American

Smokeout” an educational, positive, and inclusive experience for the hospital staff.
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We want to ensure our participation is inclusive of all hospital staff to avoid making

those who support or use tobacco products from feeling targeted. Hopefully, by doing this, we

can have successful day of participation, especially without offending our clients and their

contributors. However, if that were to happen, we have a crisis management plan ready to go

recover our reputation as well as the hospital’s. Overall, our goal is to make realistic goals for the

hospital’s participation the “Great American Smokeout,” and that everyone involved is satisfied

with our company’s program.

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References

America's Health Rankings. (2017). ​Explore Smoking in North Carolina | 2017 Annual Report.​

Retrieved December 4, 2018, from

https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/Smoking/state/NC

Center, A. H., Jackson, P., Smith, S., & Stansberry, F. R. (2014). ​Public relations practices:

Managerial case studies and problems​ (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Great American Smokeout. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2018, from

https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-from-tobacco/great-american-smokeout.html

Walters, M. (2010, November 16). ​Use the Nov. 18 Great American Smokeout to Help

Employees Kick the Habit.​ Retrieved December 4, 2018, from

https://www.ehstoday.com/health/wellness/great-american-smokeout-employees-kick-ha

bit-1116