Big Tobacco’s targeting harms African-American community

Well, we’re done with Black History Month and swiftly moving through April. Let’s take time not to forget the valuable lessons taught to us by some of the greatest leaders from our history, leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Harriet Tubman, who helped set free and bring their people together.

There is one problem that hasn’t found its liberator in helping African-Americans break free, however, and that’s Big Tobacco’s predatory targeting of menthol-flavored tobacco. Of every African-American who smokes,

88 percent smoke menthol-flavored tobacco. People say how they love the cool, soothing feel or how much better menthol-flavor cigarettes taste.

That’s exactly what Big Tobacco was aiming for.

In 1964, the Surgeon General came out with its first public warning about tobacco. This caused a wave of white, middle-class smokers to abandon cigarettes. Only 5 percent of African-Americans made up the market for menthol-flavored cigarettes then. Menthol-flavored brands like Salem, Kool and Newport quickly started spending millions on marketing to target and quickly lure in African-Americans. Read More>