Three cheers for celebrities!

Interviewed in the current issue of Fresh, the food and lifestyle magazine, Antony Worrall Thompson is asked: "And you're still a member of Forest?" To which Wozza replies: "And proud of it. It's not really about pro-smoking, it's about pro-freedom of choice."

In the current climate it takes a brave man to stand up for smokers, and if you're a "celebrity" whose programmes are aimed at a mainstream audience, it takes even more guts.

Antony has it in spades. I've lost count of the times he has popped up on TV or radio, supporting our cause. I once arrived at Bush House, home of the World Service, to do an interview, and there, on a bank of TV monitors in the studio, was Wozza, live on Sky News. I couldn't hear what he was saying but he was clearly engaged in a rip-roaring argument with Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, and was relishing every moment of it!

Recently he was asked to appear on BBC Breakfast on New Year's Eve. He agreed, despite the fact that he had to get up at five o'clock to be at Television Centre in west London for 7.00am. Pretty impressive, given the subject matter, and the time of year, slap bang in the middle of the holiday season.

I mention this because I have received an email from someone attacking Forest for our use of  "celebrities" such as Antony, David Hockney and Joe Jackson. This strategy, our critic claimed, has been a total failure. What we need, he argues, are "numbers, rational argument and legal loopholes".

I agree about numbers and rational argument but not about legal loopholes which is a time-consuming licence to make lawyers even richer than they already are. (In the unlikely event that you find a "loophole", rest assured that it will be quickly closed.)

However, "celebrities" do have a role to play and it almost worked. Think back a few years to when John Reid was Health Secretary. In May 2004, in answer to an invitation that was sent to his home in California, David Hockney unexpectedly turned up for a private Forest dinner.

Inspired by what he called a "life-enhancing experience", Hockney chose the very next day to write an impassioned letter to the Guardian. It was picked up by Newsnight and two days later Britain's greatest living artist appeared on the country's leading current affairs programme arguing against the prospect of a public smoking ban.

A few weeks later I persuaded Joe Jackson - who had joined our campaign a few months earlier - to write a letter to The Times arguing against a smoking ban. It took a while but eventually, thanks to Joe's persistence, we had 14 signatories including Bob Geldof, Stephen Fry, Simon Cowell, Chris Tarrant, Hockney and AWT.

The letter was published and reported HERE on Saturday September 25, 2004. The following day, at the Labour party conference in Brighton, Joe shared a platform with Reid at a high profile fringe event. During the panel discussion, the Health Secretary specifically mentioned The Times letter as evidence of opposition to a ban. After the event, Joe spoke briefly to him and gave him a copy of his essay, The Smoking Issue, which Forest had just published.

A few weeks later Reid announced his decision - a ban on smoking in all enclosed public places with the exception of private members clubs and pubs that don't serve food. I believe that our use of "celebrities" had some influence on his decision to seek a compromise. The fact that the government later overturned this policy was due to factors outwith our control, the most notable of which was the "success" (ie high compliance rate) of the smoking ban in Ireland.

There's another factor, too. We live in a celebrity-dominated culture. Forest is a media (and political) lobby group. To get our message across we have to use whatever resources we can. Often we are asked to provide a spokesman, but it has to be a "celebrity". (GMTV and BBC Breakfast are the worst culprits but other broadcasters and journalists have made similar requests.)

In the real world that's how it is, and we have to work accordingly (although I must stress that the use of celebrities plays only a small part in our overall strategy). Thankfully, the likes of AWT and David Hockney understand this and are prepared to help us out. They deserve thanks, not criticism. If only we could find a few more.

Comments

[Dave Atherton]

The bottom line is that celebrities will have a far greater chance of being reported, being taken notice of and believed. Also being in the media they have the presentation skills and verbal communications to make their point. Can you imagine being on he 9 o'clock news in front of millions, microphones and cameras pointed at you, being asked by Fiona Bruce "SHS is a killer, surely it is wrong to bring back smoking in pubs" question. Dry mouth, mind has gone blank, and all your bodily funtions wanting to work. It must be a skill and an art. My one "media" soiree, obviously not part of Forest was for F2C for a student magazine and that had me up for days before with sleepless nights. Also if you get me on, my self control in facing Debs Arnott and 'mand Sandford would not improve the nation's language.