Tobacco is immensely destructive in African American/Black communities, causing more deaths than AIDS, accidents, and homicide combined.1 Tobacco companies’ manipulative tactics have led to African American/Black communities experiencing the greatest burden of tobacco-related mortality of any racial or ethnic group in the United States.2
Big Tobacco systematically targets African American/Black communities by plastering neighborhood stores with deceptive ads and offering discounts on their products.3 Studies have found there are up to 10x more tobacco ads in neighborhoods where people predominantly identify as African American/Black, particularly for menthol cigarettes, which Big Tobacco has specifically pushed in the community for years.4
Tobacco companies are now pushing other flavored tobacco products such as little cigars and cigarillos and are pricing them lower in African American/Black neighborhoods.5 R.J. Reynolds, makers of Camel and Newport, recently sponsored community events and paid for the travel costs of prominent community leaders such as civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton to convince African American/Black communities that banning flavored tobacco, particularly menthol cigarettes, will continue the criminalization of people who are African American/Black. The truth is, flavor ban tobacco policies, similar to the 2016 California Tobacco 21 law, no longer penalize tobacco product purchasers, instead holding tobacco sellers responsible.
Clearly, Big Tobacco is not letting go of this community without a fight.
Find out more about what each organization is doing to fight the tobacco industry's predatory tactics.
The aim of the Keep Our Lungs Safe project from the African Coalition is to reduce the impact of tobacco health harms among the African American/Black and African immigrant and refugee communities in Los Angeles. Keep Our Lungs Safe works with organizations and businesses to adopt smoke-free policies, including multi-unit housing and faith-based organizations. Keep Our Lungs Safe also works to restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products and menthol cigarettes, given these products impact on our communities.
The SOL Project advocates for healthy, smoke-free communities for African Americans who suffer disproportionately as a result of social conditions and tobacco use. The SOL Project works with a variety of local leaders – community members, educators, lawmakers, nonprofits, and businesses – to create smoke-free environments and lessen the impact of flavored tobacco products and menthol cigarettes on diverse communities.
The African American Statewide Coordinating Center aims to work collectively in love, unity, and cultural humility to educate, empower, and engage our communities to end commercial tobacco use and its harm. We will work toward a tobacco-free California where the tobacco industry no longer has influence over our leaders, organizations, and families.
FULSToP aims to reduce tobacco-related health harms and disparities among refugee, ethnic, and African-American/Black communities and make gains toward health equity through policy change and community education. FULSToP works with organizations to implement smoke-free policies and regulate flavored tobacco products.
The mission of the Inland Empire Smoke Out Project is to save lives and improve the health of African Americans in the Tri-County South Region by reducing illness and premature death resulting from the use of flavored tobacco and other mentholated products. We strive to reveal the truth behind flavored tobacco, where it comes from, and empower our communities to create policies banning flavored tobacco products in their cities.
Youth Leadership Institute brings young people together and equips them to lead positive social change within their communities. In Merced, Madera, and Fresno, YLI works to engage African American youth and their adult allies to enact smoke- and tobacco-free policies at in homes, community college campuses, and faith community campuses.
Tobacco’s impact on health disparities in California
For decades, the tobacco industry has aggressively targeted California’s diverse communities with predatory practices. Internal documents from Big Tobacco outline their strategies – many of which are shocking attempts to peddle deadly products by way of product discounts and manipulative advertising. They even gave away free products to youth in the past. These tactics masquerade as support for communities under the guise of cultural celebration.
Unfortunately, the tactics have worked. Big Tobacco aggressively targeted communities and, as a result, some populations have higher rates of tobacco use, experience greater secondhand smoke exposure at work and at home, and have higher rates of tobacco-related disease than the general population.5
Addressing tobacco-related health inequities is key to California’s efforts to fight tobacco, our state’s number one cause of preventable death and disease.6 Tobacco use, pricing, and its impact across California were analyzed where significant disparities were found across various populations. See how Big Tobacco affects each community in the Nation’s most diverse state.
