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Health communication and rhetorical challenges for the anti-smoking policy in Russia
Smoking regulation constitutes a challenging issue for both developed and developing countries that aim to improve their state of public health and constituent wellbeing. Anti-smoking information and communication campaigns accompanying regulation acts can either enhance or sabotage national policy initiatives. This is especially salient in countries like Russia, where smoking is one of the top public health threats and causes of population decline.1 As such, critical analysis of the message effectiveness of Russia’s anti-smoking campaign is warranted. This study employs frame analysis to examine the anti-smoking messages embedded in the sections of Federal Law No. 15 that regulate the information and communication campaigns. The study’s results illustrate that in addition to the lack of a comprehensive, effective public relations campaign promoting smoking cessation, the rhetoric guiding the enforcement of the anti-smoking legislation enforcement is doomed to yield desired results. This study suggests recommendations for reframing existing messages to enable a more comprehensive and effective Russian anti-smoking.