Why Black People Who Smoke Use Menthol Cigarettes

It’s no accident

Left: cigarette companies began marketing to African Americans in the 1950s. This ad is from 1963. So easy on your throat! Right: Using an athlete in cigarette ads is always a good idea! Photos: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fairuse/

Think back on it: most of us have at least tried cigarettes.

The lucky ones hacked up a lung upon inhaling their first one and never went back. The rest, due to peer pressure, went on to a second, a third, and then started liking it. Or was it just to be with the cool kids?

If your parents smoked, you may have been more predisposed to smoke as well. Think about all of that secondhand smoke we breathed in for years!

My smoking habit began in the seventh grade — which was then called junior high school. Everybody smoked Marlboro. There was no equivalent.

Buying them was a challenge. A little store in a town adjacent to ours was notorious for selling cigarettes to anyone. It was quite a walk, but “I’d walk a mile for a…Marlboro.” (Substitute Marlboro with Camel, and you’ve got their advertising jingle.)

Most of us were usually broke. When you had cigarettes, you were constantly bombarded with kids bumming smokes off of you. Especially me, as I tended to hang around with older kids, and to be accepted, I had to surrender to their wishes. They didn’t necessarily reciprocate.

So I got wise and decided to start smoking weird brands so people wouldn’t want to bum off of me. Among them were Winston, Viceroy, Lark, Benson & Hedges (which I took from my dad’s carton), Camel, Merit, Real, and KOOL. Getting used to menthol cigarettes wasn’t easy, but the last cigarette on that list was the most despised by my peer group. I didn’t have to worry about a thing.

The longest time I smoked any brand of cigarette was TRUE, which had a recessed filter. That way, your mouth doesn’t touch that icky fiberglass or whatever filters are made out of. When Philip Morris bought Lorillard, the maker of TRUE, they phased them out, so I switched to Parliament, the only other cigarette with a recessed filter.

I still smoke, but only about five or six cigarettes per day. In this age, it is sometimes hard to find places to smoke. I can’t smoke in my house, so I go outside, whatever the weather. At this point, it would probably be easy to quit. But I find coffee and a cigarette in the morning an irresistible combination. The ones after meals are equally satisfying.

BelAir was a Brown & Williamson brand, which was acquired by R.J. Reynolds in 2004, which then phased it out. Benson & Hedges is a British brand owned by the American conglomerate Altria. It was one of the first cigarettes offered in 100mm length. Photos: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fairuse/

Now, let’s cut to advertising. The number of brands of cigarettes on the market in the past was insane. And every brand needed a punchy tagline. Madison Avenue was notorious for making cigarettes pleasurable, sexy, and even healthy. Then came the lifestyle brands with targeted demographics. Virginia Slims is a prime example. To market a cigarette to women. “You’ve come a long way, baby” was their advertising slogan, complementing the women’s liberation movement.

Marketing is another way the cigarette companies have taken advantage of a demographic group. Before 1964, cigarette companies targeted the nation’s youth to get them into the habit and brand preference. Federal regulators barred tobacco companies from advertising that targeted this audience that same year.

But smoking has gone out of vogue. In fact, it’s shamed. But not long ago, nearly everyone smoked.

In 1965, 42% of Americans smoked cigarettes. Currently, the highest percentage of smoking is in Europe, where nearly 25% of adults smoke. The lowest prevalence is in Africa.
Only 12.9% of white Americans smoke, while 11.7% of Black Americans smoke. But considering the population is about 332 million, that’s a hefty number.

Numbers and statistics vary. In 2020, the CDC determined that 19.4% of non-Hispanic Black Americans smoked. That’s more than 64 million Americans. Here are some more statistics from the American Lung Association and the CDC:

13.3% of white Americans smoke
Of white smokers, 23% smoke menthol cigarettes
27.1% of Native Americans smoke, the most of any minority group
19% of rural Americans smoke. Only 11.4% of urban Americans smoke.
21.6% of military veterans smoke
16.1% of the LGBTQ demographic smoke
21.5% of non-high school graduates smoke
Only 5.6% of those with an undergraduate degree smoke (I really am a pariah)
Americans who earn less than $35,000 have a smoking rate of 20.2%
21.2% of uninsured Americans smoke
33.6% of those living in public housing smoke
At 23.8%, West Virginia is the #1 state for smokers, followed by Kentucky. Utah comes in at #50, with only 7.9% of its citizens smokers
Currently, menthol cigarettes hold a 37% market share of all cigarettes sold in the U.S., up from 26% in 2001.
Marlboro is #1 in market share today, larger than the following seven brands combined. Marlboro markets menthol cigarettes. Newport has a 14% market share. KOOL has 2% of the total market.

But get this:

85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes

Ask a Black smoker for a cigarette, and chances are, you’re going to get a Newport (menthol).

Why is this?

Right: Tackling female smokers AND Black smokers at once! Left: Let’s shoot some hoops and smoke while we’re at it! Photos: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fairuse

Marketing.

According to the CDC, some of the attributes tobacco companies look for in a cigarette consumer are lower levels of education, those who are divorced, those who have a low income, being gay, are on Medicaid, have a disability, or have feelings of severe psychological distress.

What a lovely audience.

Even before the youth marketing ban, tobacco companies were paying attention to the African-American market. The income of Blacks in America increased threefold between 1920 and 1943, from $3 billion to $10 billion. Only 10% of Black Americans smoked in the 1950s, so Big Tobacco saw this as a prime opportunity.

Tobacco companies moved their advertising and marketing dollars to the African-American market and did it both overtly and surreptitiously. For instance, they would provide free samples to barbers and bellhops, traditional roles for Black males at the time, which would, in turn, influence their customers.

Tobacco companies disproportionately market menthol cigarettes in the Black community through advertising heavily in targeted magazines (such as Ebony and Jet in the past), billboards in Black neighborhoods, and events targeted to African Americans. Tobacco prices tend to be lower in Black neighborhoods, and for that, menthol cigarettes get prime shelf space.

In a study published by the National Institutes of Health, Black Americans were found to be exposed to a higher volume of pro-tobacco advertising in both concentration and density.

Big Tobacco has used predatory practices to lure African Americans to cigarettes in many ways, especially through music.

Brown and Williamson’s (later bought by R.J. Reynolds) KOOL brand created and sponsored the Kool Jazz Festivals in 1981. Dizzy Gillespie was featured in one of their ads next to a pack of KOOL. The festivals became a huge success, but one executive at B and W feared that “the more successful the jazz festivals become, the blacker the Kool brand would become.”

Later, KOOL gained new smokers with the MIXX promotion, celebrating hip-hop music and culture. This was especially appealing to youthful smokers. With these festivals under the scrutiny of the attorney generals of New York, Maryland, and Illinois, R.J. Reynolds agreed to pay $1.46 million to be used for youth smoking prevention programs.

It’s not a menthol cigarette, but R.J. Reynolds debuted the “Joe Camel” character in 1987 to attract kids of all ages to the Camel brand. While it grew Camel’s market share, it also drew the attention of the FTC, ruling the character of “unfair practices” by exposing children to smoking.

After increased litigation, the company denied the accusations but withdrew the campaign in 1997. Eventually, RJR paid a $368.5 billion settlement to states seeking to recover costs due to tobacco-related illnesses.

“Blaxsploitation” in advertising targeted the Black population without alienating whites because they were found only in magazines aimed at the African American market (like **Negro Digest**, which later became **Black World**, **Ebony**, and **Jet**. ) “Black Power” was a key message of the 1970s. The film industry later adopted the term (Blaxploitation) when used to describe movies like “Shaft” and “Superfly.” Photos: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fairuse

Menthol cigarettes were positioned as an easier way to smoke because menthol was more soothing on the throat than regular cigarettes. There was a perception that, because they were smooth, they were less harmful than tobacco-flavored cigarettes. So, they were a way to ease new users into the habit.

In a 2015 study, it was found that smoking menthol cigarettes makes users want to smoke more. However, it has been long known that menthol flavor cigarettes are more addictive. It masks the harsh tobacco flavor, which can increase the appeal of smoking.

For the uninitiated, menthol cigarettes are just easier to smoke. Data from Truth Initiative’s Young Adult Cohort Study showed that 52% of new young smokers started with menthol cigarettes. But among Black youth, 93% started with menthol cigarettes.

Menthol also makes it harder to quit. In a 2014 FDA-approved clinical trial of cessation treatments, Black female smokers had the lowest quit rates of all groups in the study. Of all Black smokers, those who smoke menthol have 12% lower odds of quitting compared to non-menthol smokers.

R.J. Reynolds has long targeted the African American market overtly (like the patronizing ad at right) and surreptitiously (through pricing and other marketing practices). Philip Morris published propaganda to make themselves seen as a part of the Black community. In reality, they both just wanted to sell more cigarettes to African Americans. Photo: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fairuse.

Strides Have Been Made

1971: Congress banned cigarette advertising on television but still allowed it in print media and billboards. For those of us old enough to remember, we can still hear the jingles: “Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigarette Should,” “I’d Rather Fight Than Switch” (Tareyton), and “You Can Take Salem Out Of The Country But, You Can’t Take The Country Out Of Salem.”
1988: Smoking was banned on flights of two hours or less in the U.S. By 1989, it was banned altogether.
2009: Flavored cigarettes were banned, but menthol slipped through the cracks because many in the Black Congressional Caucus looked to the tobacco industry for campaign donations and support.
2010: Tobacco companies are prohibited from using “light” and “low” in cigarette branding. Thus, Marlboro Lights became Marlboro “Golds.”
2019: Tobacco sales were restricted to those over the age of 21, up from 18.
2021: The FDA proposed rules to ban the sale of menthol and flavored cigars.
2022: The rules were established to remove all flavored tobacco products from the marketplace.
2024: In mid-October, the FDA filed a final version of the proposed ban that was sent to the White House’s budget office, the last stop before issuing a regulation.

Look at the lineup for the first KOOL Jazz Festival! I would have gone! Photo: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fairuse

And in the End

Many Black health groups and civil rights groups support the ban, but many Black leaders and the ACLU think it will cause overzealous policing in the Black community.

However, the FDA said policing efforts will be targeted at those involved in selling, distributing, and manufacturing products, not the individual smoker.

While it is based on saving lives, I question how we (U.S. lawmakers) have the right to take away freedom from a select group of people. It’s kind of like saying, “You can smoke this, but now that is illegal.” At one time, you could get an abortion, but now it’s illegal. The ban seems like it could be perceived as racist.

I also wonder if this is going to create a black market for menthol cigarettes. It’s human nature to develop money-making schemes. This will then use precious resources that might better be used fighting actual crime.

But it is the government’s responsibility to take care of its people, and this move has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.org

American Lung Association, www.lung.org

American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org

Helios.com, based on CDC data

“How the tobacco industry targeted Black Americans with menthol smokes” by Andrew Limbong, National Public Radio, 4/29/2022

“FDA takes momentous step toward banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars” by Jen Christensen, CNN, 10/24/2023

National Survey on Drug Use and Health, www.hhs.gov

Stanford University Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising

www.trustinitiative.org

“After years, the FDA is moving to ban menthol cigarettes” by Jason Millman on AXIOS.com, 10/20/2023

“R.J. Reynolds’ Targeting of African Americans 1988–2000” by Edith D. Balbach, Ph.D., Rebecca J. Gasior, BS, and Elizabeth M. Barbeau, ScP in the American Journal of Public Health, May 2003

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