Women and Other Groups Targeted for Decades by Menthol Tobacco Marketing, Report Says
The massive popularity of menthol cigarettes today is a result of the tobacco industry’s intense and persistent targeting of women, Black communities and youth — a push that the industry began in the 1930s and which continues today with new products and marketing campaigns.
这些是一项新研究的发现 研究 by Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA), 斯坦福大学医学院的一个研究单位, 以及美国心脏协会. The report is a key driver of the AHA’s efforts to remove barriers to health care access and quality, which include calling out industry targeting of under-resourced communities with unhealthy products.
针对女性
When tobacco companies discovered that women were early adopters of menthol, they responded with “feminine package designs” and “truly feminine names,刊登在女性杂志上的醒目广告, and brands targeting women such as Virginia Slims, 夏娃和卡普里. 受到这种咄咄逼人的广告的诱惑, 44% of women who smoke use menthol cigarettes.
针对青年
More than half of the teens who begin smoking start with a menthol brand. Internal tobacco industry documents reveal a consistent focus on attracting youth smokers since the 1920s and adopting acronyms such as “YAS” (Young Adult Smokers) and “FUBYAS” (第一个 Usual Brand Younger Adult Smokers), referring to the targets of their youth-oriented advertising campaigns. Brands 比如纽波特 positioned themselves as representing younger demographics and the dominant youth starter brand.
针对黑人社区
The tobacco industry sells more menthol products within Black communities thanks to an overwhelming amount of marketing in urban centers with menthol cigarette advertisements on billboards, 公共汽车和地铁, distributing free “starter packs” and discount coupons, and featuring prominent Black athletes and entertainers in menthol advertisements in leading Black newspapers and magazines. 因此,薄荷香烟被 85% of Black people who smoke compared to 30% of non-Hispanic white people who smoke.
Tobacco companies’ recent tactics: flavor bursts, additives and greenwashing
The industry’s efforts continue today in a market dominated by categorical menthol brands, 比如纽波特, 库尔和塞勒姆, which are joined by menthol extensions of major cigarette brands including Marlboro, Camel and Pall Mall.
The study finds that tobacco companies have continued to evolve their products with capsules and other innovations including infusion cards, 注入纸, flavor caps and flavor stones that serve as on-demand menthol additives in unflavored cigarettes.
These post market additives enable sellers to circumvent restrictions on menthol tobacco sales.
Another new industry marketing tactic is the depiction of menthol products as “organic,“无添加剂”或“植物基”.“这种趋势, which the study calls the “greenwashing” of menthol cigarettes, continues years of tobacco industry efforts to hide the health hazards of tobacco use to the public. A federal court in 2006 found that several major tobacco companies had violated civil racketeering laws following decades of lying to the public about the health threats of smoking.
我们如何反击
第一个, we’re exposing the ways tobacco companies target people in underrepresented communities with their deadly products. We’re also advocating for proven policies that prevent the industry from engaging in practices that threaten people’s health. These are examples of ways the 美国心脏协会 is working to advance health equity.
帮助 make a difference in the fight against Big Tobacco. Join the 美国心脏协会’s Tobacco Endgame movement.