Lori Fresina, head of the New England branch of M&R Strategic Services, spoke yesterday about lobbying against tobacco companies, noting to a crowd of politically conscious upperclassmen the importance of active citizenship in influencing change on the state and local levels.
The Lecture, entitled "Getting People to Stop Smoking," was sponsored by the Communications and Media Studies Program and was part of the Experimental College class "Marketing for Social Change."
Fresina, who graduated from Tufts in 1989 with a master's in public policy and citizen participation, first worked as a copy machine salesperson, learning the important but humble skill of "get[ting] used to people saying no." Soon after she was working for a 14-day treatment program for second-time DUI offenders, inspired in part by the loss of a friend to drunk driving.
Lobbying on Beacon Hill for new drunk-driving laws, Fresina quickly learned the ins and outs of political advocacy, and soon left her job to become a member of the American Cancer Society's (ACS) Tobacco Oversight Council. "Our smoking area [in high school] was literally outside the principal's office," Fresina said. "Some people didn't even believe [smoking] caused cancer. Tobacco companies reframed the smoking issue in a way that we completely missed. We had a lot of work to do."
Despite being outspent by tobacco companies ten to one, the ACS successfully advocated for making tobacco more expensive and regulating its use in Massachusetts.
Fresina said that the ACS was largely successful in reshaping how society views tobacco use, especially in public spaces.
"When you go to your local Friendly's, people aren't smoking around you," Fresina said. "Your generation has grown up in a different world."
In her lecture, Fresina outlined a "Power Prism" of six essential tools for being a good advocate: research and data collection, the effective use of coalitions, careful budgeting, grassroots work, media advocacy and lobbying.
She underscored the importance of conducting thorough research before embarking on a specific advocacy project, mentioning media such as campaign Web sites and Google as tools for making a comprehensive argument.
Fresina's second component drew on the adage "A house divided against itself cannot stand" to urge organizations to pool their time and resources to work towards a common goal.
When she got to her fourth tool, she differentiated between grassroots and "grasstop" avenues of influencing public officials. She defined "grassroots advocacy" as private citizens' efforts to establish contact with their government representatives and call for change, whereas "grasstops" already have easy access to officials.
Moving onto media advocacy, Fresina said that journalists can play an important role in shaping policy. She said that they should remain vigilant and not shy away from hard questions out of fear of offending people.
Fresina said lobbyists are also crucial in the process because they can "get bills moving" and play elected officials off of one another.
She concluded the lecture by urging students to stay involved with political advocacy, even if it does not yield immediate results.
"The American political system isn't by designed to fix things fast," Fresina claimed. "Good issues don't always win ... It takes time."
