Abstract
HIGHLIGHTS: Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue? Health advocates disseminate public health communication campaigns that inform populations about their health and rights and counter industry deception. Health-harming industries aggressively threaten and challenge public health communication campaigns to silence health advocates. Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health? There is a general gap in the literature of commercial determinants of health that tends to focus on public health problems rather than solutions. Legal analysis is paramount to understanding how health campaigns can be designed and disseminated to the greatest effect while minimizing the risk of successful industry legal challenges. Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers and/or researchers in public health? Health campaigns should encompass evidence-based facts, framed opinion or satire messages, and non-commercial intentions of informing people about their rights to health and access to information. Success in court can also set important precedents for advocates to disseminate important public health messages to the public. ABSTRACT: The literature on the Commercial Determinants of Health has primarily focused on the political power and interventions of corporations versus countermeasures by civil society. However, there is a gap in the discourse concerning industry use of legal threats and actions to silence public health organizations and their public health communication campaigns (PHCCs). This legal review aims to understand legal challenges brought against PHCCs and provide best practices for effective campaigns while minimizing legal risk. We used jurisprudence in Mexico and the United States as proxies for civil and common law countries, supplemented by international law and principles to identify the best defenses and mitigation strategies against defamation and trademark infringement actions. Legal frameworks in these countries demonstrate the ability of aggressive evidence-based public health campaigns to withstand these legal challenges. Based on these legal protections, we recommend that advocates implement PHCCs that (1) contain facts that are true and substantiated with evidence, (2) frame messaging as opinion or satire, (3) highlight the non-commercial purpose of informing people about the impact of their consumption choices on health and well-being and (4) explain how the messaging advances the rights to health and access to information. A PHCC’s success in court can also set important precedents regarding the right of advocates to disseminate and the right of populations to receive important health messages. Following these recommendations and best practices, health advocates can minimize legal risk and continue to provide effective evidence-based PHCCs that promote and protect public health.