Tobacco Company Marketing To African Americans

“We don’t smoke that s_ _ _. We just sell it. We reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the black and stupid.”
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Executive
The tobacco industry has gone to great lengths to target the African-American community over the past 30 years. Through market research and aggressive advertising, the industry has successfully penetrated this population. The industry’s “investment” in the African-American community has had a destructive impact: African Americans suffer the greatest burden of tobacco-related mortality of any ethnic or racial group in the United States.2
Targeting African-American Youths
Research shows that cigarette company advertising and other marketing efforts greatly influence tobacco use initiation among adolescent non-smokers and maintenance among those youths who have already become regular smokers.3 80 percent of all smokers start before the age of 18 and, not surprisingly, the vast majority of kids smoke the three most heavily advertised brands. 4 5 One of these heavily advertised brands, Newport, is the cigarette brand leader among African-American youths in the United States.6 Eight out of every ten black, youth smokers smoke Newport cigarettes.7
While smoking among black youths has decreased steadily since peaking in 1997 and 1998, smoking among African American tenth graders in 2008 was almost identical to the smoking rate among this group in 1992 (6.6 percent vs. 6.5 percent, respectively), and smoking among African American twelfth graders was actually higher in 2008 than it was in 1992 (8.7 percent vs. 10.3 percent, respectively).8
Targeting African Americans through Advertising
The tobacco industry targets the African-American community through intense advertising and promotional efforts.
A 2008 study of retail outlets in California found that the number of cigarette ads per store and the proportion of stores with at least one ad for a sales promotion are increasing more rapidly in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of African-Americans.9 A 2007 study found that there were 2.6 times more tobacco advertisements per person in areas with an African American majority compared to white-majority areas. In addition, the odds that billboards were tobacco-related in African American communities were 70 percent higher than in white communities.10
African-American communities have been bombarded with cigarette advertising. Since the MSA, the average youth in the United States is annually exposed to 559 tobacco ads, every adult female 617 advertisements, and every African American adult 892 ads.11
There is more interior and exterior tobacco advertising in retail outlets in low-income communities and communities with larger African-American populations.12
Expenditures for magazine advertising of mentholated cigarettes, popular with African-Americans, increased from 13 percent of total ad expenditures in 1998 to 49 percent in 2005.13
During the two years after the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in November 1998, the average annual expenditures for Newport in magazines with high youth readership increased 13.2 percent (from $5.3 to $6.0 million).14
Studies found more cigarette ads in African-American magazines, such as Ebony and Jet, than in similar magazines, such as Time and People.

Customs enforce currency rules for incoming travelers

Travelers returning to Taiwan must make sure they do not carry with them banned food items or excessive foreign currencies and cigarettes, customs authorities have warned.
Incoming travelers are banned from bringing plants or fresh food items into Taiwan, the authorities stressed.
Foreign currencies in excess of US$10,000 (S$14,120) will have to be declared, and undeclared portions will be confiscated, they said.
Last year, the customs offices cracked down on 57 cases of undeclared foreign currencies, with the total equivalent to NT$18.41 million (S$810,040) - 14 times the sum of 2008, they said.
For the Chinese renminbi, travelers are allowed to carry 20,000 yuan each. Any excessive sums will have to be bonded at the customs, which will return them when the travelers leave Taiwan, the officials said.
For the local currency, the limit is NT$60,000 for both arriving and departing travelers. Any sums over the limit must be approved by the central bank before travelers can leave or enter Taiwan with the extra sums, the officials said.
Since the government raised the health tax on cigarettes last year, violations of the duty-free cigarettes regulations have been rising, they said.
The customs offices have reported a total of 231 violations since May 12, 2009, with travelers paying NT$1.35 million in taxes for their cigarettes, the officials said.
Each incoming traveler can carry 200 cigarettes and one litre of alcoholic drinks with no duty imposed on the items.
Individual travelers can carry up to 400 cigarettes and four litres of alcoholic drinks by paying taxes for quantities over the duty-free limit. Any excessive amounts will be seized, the officials said.

Cigarette linked to deadly attack

The man killed in what police call a random attack may have lost his life over a cigarette.

Police will not comment on a motive in the death of Marcus Tremaine Deveaux Monday night.

But several people — including Jo-Ann Amond, the sister of the man accused in the murder — said the encounter began with a request for a cigarette and ended with the 37-year-old left for dead on a street.

She said her brother told her he was walking with a friend to get cigarettes from a store when her brother’s friend, “asked him for a smoke and the man said, ‘Sorry I have none.’ ”

Deveaux was found by a passerby clinging to life in the area of 22 Ave. and 17 St. S.E. about 8 p.m.

He died before arriving at the hospital.

Police said a second man in custody on unrelated warrants is a possible suspect in the killing, but as of Thursday no charges were laid.

Police could not be reached for comment on Amond’s family’s claims there was another man badly hurt during an attack downtown the same evening.

Darrin Thomas Amond is charged with second-degree murder.

Hollywood continues to glamorise smoking

Last week, we asked what our readers thought about the smoking scenes in the 3D Avatar and in movies in general.

Michelle Delaney, Irish, Bangkok

As a firm anti-smoker I'm usually first to be up-in-arms on spotting a sneaky cigarette displayed anywhere in the mass media.


The workplace smoking ban was brought into my home country in 2004 and since then most smokers and non-smokers alike in Ireland consider indoor smoking pretty unacceptable.

I have to admit however, when asked about the smoking scenes in Avatar it took me a moment to even remember any - perhaps more a reflection of the stunning visual and technical wizardry of the movie than anything else.

When I did recall Weaver's chain-smoking character, I connected it with an effort to ease her anxiety and amplify a certain masculinity in her character, rather than endear her to viewers as sultry or cool.

I don't believe the act of smoking symbolised aspects of Weaver's character that many female movie viewers would necessarily aspire to.

Is the botanist character considered an icon or sex symbol to the thousands of young impressionable Avatar fans?

Are movie-goers racing out to light up their first cigarettes after seeing Dr Grace in action?

I doubt it.

To see princess Neytiri or the rugged Jake Sully lighting up on our screens - now that probably would have given me enough fuel to begin a rant at James Cameron about his social responsibility to his young Avatarian apostles.

Steve Turner, British, London

The film, Avatar, is a phenomenal success.

The enormous production costs seem to be paying off, with the film already exceeding US$2billion in ticket sales in just the few weeks since its release.

But, within this modern science fiction film there is an old practise of product placement that one would associate with the technologies of the last century, and shows a practise that is now illegal in many of the countries where the film is being shown - smoking in the work-place.

There are two scenes where the character played by Sigourney Weaver smokes nervously in the laboratory, during work, among her colleagues.

Tobacco and smoking in films is an old practise, started before there was a full understanding of the hazards of tobacco and at a time when it could be seen as a realistic reflection of the society or characters that were being portrayed in the films.

But in the late 20th century and certainly the first ten years of the 21st, the health implications of smoking are well known.

Also well known are the skilful ways in which tobacco companies, in many countries of the world denied the opportunity to advertise their product, are using opportunities such as product placement to maintain the profile of smoking in general and, if possible, to promote specific brands.

What makes a multi-billion dollar global company promote a product that is responsible for 5 million deaths per year?

It remains to be asked of the film's director and producers, among the many questions about style, technology, ground-breaking effects, science-fiction story lines and exceptional make-up skills: how much money were they paid to place this ludicrous but deadly harmful event - harmful to real people, not fictional movie characters - in their film?

Abu Ebrahimsa, Malaysian, London

They promote a habit that has been scientifically proven to be detrimental to your health.

Film-makers just try and portray smoking as a 'hip', 'cool', 'fun' habit and forget the medical consequences of having such both a harmful and costly habit.

Yes there is the corporate social responsibility on part of the film makers to actively downplay smoking but even though there is a financial incentive to promote certain brands, is it not for the audience and public to realise what is good/bad and downright wrong.

What the Vietnamese Government doing is good but is merely a short-term solution to a long- term problem.

What governments need to do is to educate their population, as with education comes knowledge and hence realisation what is good or bad.

Another issue, if you look at it from the government's point of view, is that they receive tax revenue by promoting this product which 'developing' countries need so where would they get that extra income?

Even in the most sophisticated, educated rich countries like the UK and the US, people smoke and there were ads and TV ads, so really education and awareness is a key way to tackle this problem compared to censorship.

N.C. Reconsiders Cigarette Tax Stamps

North Carolina may bring back its state cigarette tax stamp, which has been out of use for 17 years, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. Today, a House committee on revenue laws meets to discuss the tax stamp.

A tax stamp would counter cigarette smuggling and selling cigarette cartons purchased in North Carolina in other states for a big profit. Analysts predict the stamp could bring in an annual $1 million in excise-tax funds.

In 1993, the General Assembly discontinued the stamp because the revenue generated by the tax wasn’t enough to justify the administrative, enforcement and logistics of the stamp program. With no tax stamp on North Carolina cigarettes, convenience stores, manufacturers and tobacco wholesalers have seen an increasing number of smokers who make the state a destination point for picking up cheaper cigarettes.

“This is a smuggler’s dream, what they live for,” said Jeff Lenard, NACS spokesman. “Price disparities like these are what make it worth selling cigarettes out of duffle bags and in alleyways.”

A cigarette tax stamp would make counterfeiting harder and make tracking and tracing contraband cigarettes easier. “There’s really no way to police the sales now, so having a stamp would help improve the playing field and reduce the impact on our profits from cigarettes sold in South Carolina being smuggled here,” said Rodney Allen, an owner of R&R Distribution.

Currently, only North Dakota, North Carolina and South Carolina do not have cigarette tax stamps.

Study Shows Cigarette Smoking a Risk Factor for Alzheimer's Disease

A UCSF analysis of published studies on the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and smoking indicates that smoking cigarettes is a significant risk factor for the disease. After controlling for study design, quality of the journals, time of publication, and tobacco industry affiliation of the authors, the UCSF research team also found an association between tobacco industry affiliation and the conclusions of individual studies. Industry-affiliated studies indicated that smoking protects against the development of AD, while independent studies showed that smoking increased the risk of developing the disease.
Study findings were published online today in the January issue (19:2) of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. An abstract of the paper is available at the link below.
“For many years, published studies and popular media have perpetuated the myth that smoking is protective against the development of AD. The disease’s impact on quality of life and health care costs continues to rise. It is therefore critical that we better understand its causes, in particular, the role of cigarette smoking,” said Janine K. Cataldo, PhD, RN, assistant professor in the UCSF School of Nursing and lead author of the study.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 5.3 million Americans currently have the disease, and that number will escalate rapidly as the baby boom generation ages. AD also triples health care costs for Americans aged 65 and older, the organization states.
The UCSF team reviewed 43 published studies from 1984 to 2007. Authors of one-fourth of the studies had an affiliation with the tobacco industry.
The UCSF team determined that the average risk of a smoker developing AD, based on studies without tobacco industry affiliation, was estimated to be 1.72, meaning that smoking nearly doubled the risk of AD. In contrast, the team found that studies authored by individuals with tobacco industry affiliations, showed a risk factor of .86 (less than one), suggesting that smoking protects against AD. When all studies were considered together, the risk factor for developing AD from smoking was essentially neutral at a statistically insignificant 1.05.
Previous reviews of the association between smoking and AD have not controlled for study design and author affiliation with the tobacco industry, according to Cataldo. To determine if study authors had connections to the tobacco industry, the UCSF team analyzed 877 previously secret tobacco industry documents.
The researchers used an inclusive definition of “tobacco industry affiliation” and examined authors’ current or past funding, employment, paid consultation, and collaboration or co-authorship on a study with someone who had current or previous tobacco industry funding within 10 years of publication.
“We know that industry-sponsored research is more likely to reach conclusions favorable to the sponsor,” said Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, of the UCSF Department of Medicine and a study co-author. “Our findings point to the ongoing corrosive nature of tobacco industry funding and point to the need for academic institutions to decline tobacco industry funding to protect the research process.”
Judith J. Prochaska, PhD, MPH, of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, also is a co-author. The team’s research was supported by grants from the California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.