Targeting Women and Minorities

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Targeting Women and Minorities

• How Tobacco Companies conquered diverse markets
  with addiction and death

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The Growing Problem

• Female Smoking Rates
• African American
• Hispanic
• Asian/Pacific Islander
• American Indian

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Female Smoking Behaviors

• 178,000 women die each year from smoking in the
  U.S. (CDC Fact Sheet, 2005)
• 6.6 of female middle school students are regular
  smokers in FL (2005 FYTS)
• 15 of female high school students are regular
  smokers in FL (2005 FYTS)

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African American Smoking Behavior

• Since 1997 the rate of African American men
  smoking has increased from 26 to 32
• Approx. 3 out of every 4 African American smokers
  prefer menthol cigarettes
• Among African American teens, the three most
  preferred cigarettes are Newport, Kool and Salem.

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Hispanics

• 5 of Hispanic middle school students in FL
  report being a regular smoker (2005 FYTS)
• 12.8 of Hispanic high school students in FL
  report being a regular smoker (2005 FYTS)
• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths
  among Hispanics
• Hispanics are almost 3 times more likely to die
  from lung cancer than whites.

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Asian American/Pacific Islander

• Asian American men have the 2nd highest smoking
  rate of all male racial groups at 29.4
• By the time Asian American youth graduate from
  high school, one third, or 33 are smokers.
  Asian American youth in grade 12 are more likely
  to report smoking a cigarette in the past month
  than other racial groups.

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American Indian/Native Alaskan

• Smoking rates among ethnicities indicates that
  smoking is most prevalent among American Indians
  than any other ethnic group.
• Smokeless tobacco rates among American Indians is
  4.5 compared to 3.4 for whites.

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Opportunity Knocks

• For decades smoking was a privilege reserved for
  white, many times wealthy, males
• 1920s-30s Tobacco companies begin targeting
  women in the U.S. and western Europe
• Early 80s The industry found another target not
  yet penetratedminorities

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Marketing Challengesreaching new/specific users

• Aspirational (desirable)
• Acceptable (socially and culturally normal)
• Accessible (affordable and available)
• Addictive

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The Marketing Mix

• Promotion-advertising, sponsorship, point of sale
  ads, product placement
• Product brands, cigarette/package design
• Price- pack sizes (10s, loosies), coupons
• Place- vending machines, shops, ad placement

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Promotion
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Promotion

• Smoking has been promoted as being
• glamorous sociable
• sophisticated relaxing
• fun calming
• romantic emancipated
• sexy liberating
• healthy rebellious
• sporty slimming
• fashionable cool

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Promotion

• Relying on ethnic media (magazines)
• Philip Morris is the leading advertiser in Latino
  markets RJR/Nabisco is in the top 10
• Magazines targeting minorities earn greater
  revenues from cigarette advertising than do
  general market magazines

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Promotion

• Big Tobacco has targeted Hispanic Americans by
  sponsoring major soccer events, putting on Latin
  music events, giving away free samples of
  cigarettes and attending Hispanic Festivals.
• In the mid 1990s two major tobacco companies
  donated 75,000 to a well known National Hispanic
  Organization. That same year, the organization
  mailed 92,000 letters urging business owners and
  employees to lobby against a proposed tobacco tax
  increase.

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Promotion

• Studies have found a higher density of point of
  sale advertising and billboards in racial/ethnic
  communities

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Promotion
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Promotion

• In 1991 Philip Morris gave more than 17 million
  in charitable contributions to organzations like
• NAACP
• United Negro College Fund
• National Hispanic University
• National Minority AUS Council
• The Associated Black Charities

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Product
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Products

• Brands or product lines have been created to
  appeal directly to gender/ethnic populations
• Brands may have a cultural significance (name,
  imagery) that link the target to his/her heritage

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Product

• Six specific menthol brands have been
  target-marketed to African Americans over the
  past 40 years.
• One Tobacco companys marketing document proposed
  a new brand targeted specifically at inner city
  blacks. This brand was to be more potent20mg
  of tar. Why?

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Blacks drink malt liquor rather than beer, and,
Blacks are less concerned with tar and nicotine
levels.http//tobaccodocuments.org
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Product

• Rio and Dorado brand cigarettes were developed to
  appeal to Latinos
• American Spirit brand cigarettes are packaged and
  marketed to Native Americans/Alaskan Indians
• Menthol X cigarettes which were marketed after
  Spike Lees movie Malcom X

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Product
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Product

• Creating brands of cigarettes that are shaped and
  marketed as slim or slender to appeal to women
• Using womens desire to be thin as a reason to
  smoke (or avoid quitting)

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Price
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Price

• Tobacco companies must make their products both
  affordable and available to women and minorities.
• Several strategies are used by Big Tobacco to
  ensure their products can be accessed by those
  groups with limited income.

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Price

• Packaging cigarettes in boxes of 10 instead of 20
  allows the companies to sell the smaller boxes at
  a reduced price.
• Creating reduced priced budget brands, like
  Doral or Salem, with affluent names.
• Creating brands with higher nicotine content that
  target occasional smokersenabling them to become
  addicted easier.

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Price

• The tobacco industry spent 1.32 billion in
  rebate and discount promotions on their cigarette
  brands to customers in 2003. (2005 FTC Report)
• The tobacco industry also spent more in 2003 on
  direct mail offers and point of purchase
  discounts than any other year. (2005 FTC Report)
• In some parts of the U.S., retailers are
  encouraged to sell loosies or single
  cigarettes.

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Price
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Price
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Place
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Place

• Tobacco companies must ensure there are places to
  purchase and use their products
• Placing tobacco products in self-serve vending
  machines or on the counter without the need for
  sales assistance assures a greater number of new
  users access to the product.

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FIGHTING BACK
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Fighting Back

• Staying Informed
• Educating your peers
• Target your message against the industry for
  diverse populations
• Know when a tobacco company is sponsoring an
  event in your community
• Encourage magazines to reject tobacco ads

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Fighting Back

• The Uptown Example
• In 1990, RJR wanted to test a new brand called
  Uptown in Philadelphia.
• It was a brand specifically targeting African
  Americans with 19mg of nicotine per cigarettethe
  companys second most potent brand
• Several community leaders, including youth, heard
  of this market test and created a grassroots
  movement against the product.
• Their efforts were supported by media
• RJR dropped the campaign and the product was
  never tested.

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Fighting Back

• Girl-cotte Example
• Several teenage girls in Pennsylvania objected to
  a new line of shirts created by Ambercrombi
  Fitch. These shirts had derogatory messages
  about females
• The girls organized a girl-cotte in their high
  school and local community against Ambercrombi.
• They got a lot of media attention (even an
  interview with Katie Couric on NBC)
• Ambercrombi Fitch stopped selling the shirts