How WWF and an avid trophy hunter greenwashed one of the world’s worst tobacco corporations
Philip Morris’s past CEO, a trophy hunter and horrible human being, helped form an unholy relationship between the tobacco giant and WWF.
The tobacco industry created many issues that negatively impacted its public image. The industry is best known for its cancer-causing products and its denial of science in the name of profit, but the industry also caused severe environmental damage throughout its history.
Take the country of Malawi for example. The Malawian government has recognized that tobacco production is a leading cause of the country’s deforestation, where 16.9% of forest cover disappeared between 1990 and 2010.
American tobacco corporation Philip Morris is one of Malawi’s biggest tobacco buyers. And it, like all other tobacco companies, needed ways to boost its public image in the face of these types of negative stories.
That’s where WWF, and one particularly horrid trophy hunter, came to the rescue.
Philip Morris donated $467,250 to WWF between 1971 and 1992. Many previously undisclosed documents make it clear that these donations were not simply charity.
Philip Morris’s strategy for winning over the Environmental Protection Agency included referencing the corporation’s donations to WWF as an example of their environmental consciousness.
According to another document, the tobacco corporation’s regulatory group noted that Philip Morris should reach out to WWF for allies against the EPA because they believed environmental groups would be annoyed that secondhand smoke is taking precedence over other environmental issues.
A confidential Philip Morris report also listed WWF as a potential ally as they looked for environmental organization support against anti-smoking regulations.
An email showed that Philip Morris held a meeting to discuss the “promotional potential” of a “grant to World Wildlife Fund.” While the email said no action was taken at that time, there is another memo describing using corporate donations to WWF to position themselves in good light concerning the plight of wild horses (the tobacco company did respond to criticism about showcasing rodeos in their ads by saying they donate to WWF).
But the relationship between Philip Morris and WWF was much deeper than donations. Philip Morris’s past CEO Joseph Cullman was on WWF’s payroll where he was a director for decades.
Cullman’s association with WWF was a huge help to the tobacco company. An internal letter specifically referenced WWF when saying that Cullman’s “representation of the corporation in many areas has had a beneficial effect on the corporate image and activities.”
A Philip Morris newsletter discussed how Joseph Cullman set up the WWF-US’s headquarters in New York for its Corporate Support Campaign.
“[U]nder the aegis of Joseph F. Cullman 3rd, Philip Morris has taken WWF-US under its wing and given it a New York homebase for its Corporate Support Campaign which is chaired by Mr Cullman.”
[The fact that a powerful anti-science, anti-environment tobacco company took WWF-US ‘under its wing’ is certainly disturbing. Maybe we need to reframe how we look at organizations like WWF that claim to support wildlife conservation – maybe we need to view them instead as support for corporations and the capitalist system that gives them power?]
“It is not even surprising that this is the first time any conservative organization has ever undertaken a national corporate solicitation program. Director of Corporate Development for WWF-U.S., Laurie Staub, says the creation of both the New York operating base and the national campaign itself are the result of Mr Cullman's belief that “corporations must begin to recognize their responsibility to a planned conservation management program to preserve the quality of life.”
Philip Morris also referenced their 25 years of work on the Keep America Beautiful campaign – something that is understood to be a greenwashing campaign that reframed the debate about corporate vs. personal responsibility.
The newsletter concluded by saying that Cullman raised $330,000 for WWF-US within the first year of the corporate campaign.
“We salute Joseph F. Cullman 3rd for championing yet another cause whose ultimate recipients are the people who live on this planet!”
It is peculiar that anyone could think that Cullman was doing something good for people given that he famously responded to a question about a study linking smoking to lower weight babies and increased risk of stillbirths and infant deaths by saying “some women would prefer having smaller babies.”
The reality is that Cullman was a despicable human being that clearly cared more about profits than people – and he also happened to be an avid trophy hunter with a particular fondness for hunting in Tanzania.
John Jackson III of the trophy hunting organization Conservation Force had nothing but wonderful things to say of him after Cullman’s passing (noting that Cullman was a “friend” that helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the trophy hunting organization). Jackson said that Conservation Force “stands ready to assist all to fulfill Joe’s dream” of expanding Cullman’s so-called ‘conservation’ programs across Tanzania.
It would be wonderful if trophy hunting organizations didn’t plan to fulfill an abhorrent man’s dream - but what else should we expect given the abhorrence of trophy hunting itself?