Meeting with Al Gore

My meeting with Al Gore at Social Media Week.

Good old Social Media Week. It brings up great topics - like our TV Goes Social iBreakfast - and it brings out the stars like Al Gore. It turns out we have a common interest in the Tobacco Industry! When he was Vice President, he stood up to the tobacco industry. As a southern politician with presidential ambitions, that took a lot of guts. Like Mandela’s release from jail – it was one of the things I never expected to see in my lifetime. While Al Gore did not risk his life the way Mandela did, his stand had its own world-changing effect: the great $250 billion tobacco settlement of 1997 and a fundamental change in smoking regulations here and around the world.

My interest in Tobacco is a little more academic. My book Cigarette Seduction is about the marketing research behind the brands, how that defines smokers and cultures (brands vary dramatically by country) and how smokers can use that knowledge to quit.

Al Gore believes that Tobacco Companies are evil. While I don’t necessarily disagree with him, I do think it’s a little more complicated. They are addressing some fundamental human needs. If we don’t understand what they are and how to deal with them, they will just re-emerge – probably in more harmful forms. In that respect, Tobacco Companies are, to certain people, the good guys - and you have to accept that.

In any case, I salute Al Gore who is really warm guy in person. I thank him for his Nobel Prize-winning work on Global Warming - it has made us think green and electrified ours and our children’s generation. 

Just one thing - and sure, this is a cheap shot - with this rotten winter, we could use just a little global warming right now……

My Meeting with Al Gore

Good old social Media Week! It brought out a lot of important issues - see our report on TV Goes Social. It also brought out the stars.

 Alan Brody & Al Gore

This is my meeting with Al Gore. As it turns out, we have something in common - a deep interest in the Tobacco Business. VP Gore stood up to the Tobacco Industry despite coming from from Tobacco country. That took an enormous amount of courage - the kind I equate with Nelson Mandela in that I would never have expected it to happen in my lifetime and as a Southern politician, had a lot to lose. His stand lead to a worldwide change in smoking habits and legislation around the world.

My interest is little more academic - my book Cigarette Seduction is about the way the brands work: how they were created out of deep research, what that says about the culture and how it can help smokers quit. While Al Gore believes the Tobacco industry is evil - and I don't totally disagree - the issue is a little more complex because smoking fills certain psychic needs. If we are not cognizant of that, guess what? People can do a lot worse.