Hispanic/Latino
How Big Tobacco Targets Hispanic/Latino Communities
What’s one of the most insidious ways to infiltrate a community? Gain favor for your deadly products by funding schools and children’s education. Big Tobacco financially supported primary and secondary schools, universities and colleges, and even scholarship programs for Hispanic/Latino communities to create the illusion that they’re supporting the future of the community.1 Big Tobacco lobbied and donated large amounts of money to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to oppose tobacco tax increases, trying to make elected officials their puppets.2
All this money from the tobacco industry is devastating to the health of Hispanic/Latino communities. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among Hispanic/Latino populations in California, and smoking causes 80-90 percent of lung cancer cases.34
But Big Tobacco doesn’t stop there – the industry also aggressively discounts flavored cigar and cigarillos in predominantly Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods to hook new customers.4
Stay aware of Big Tobacco’s predatory tactics – they’re going to do everything they can to keep a deadly grip on Hispanic/Latino communities.
The proof is in the data
Indicator | Hispanic/Latino | General population |
|---|---|---|
Adult tobacco use | ||
1. Adult cigarette use: Adult cigarette smoking prevalence | 5.9% | 6.1% |
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2. Change in Adult Cigarette Use: Rate of change in adult cigarette smoking, 2014 to 2022 | -42.7% The 2022 estimate is significantly lower than the 2014 estimate. | -50.8% |
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3. Adult tobacco use: Adult tobacco use prevalence (e.g. cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other vaping products, other tobacco products) | 11.1% The estimate is significantly lower than the California general population. | 11.4% |
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Youth tobacco use | ||
4. Youth cigarette use: Youth cigarette smoking prevalence | 0.7% | 1.2% |
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5. Change in Youth Cigarette Use: Rate of change in youth cigarette smoking, 2016 to 2023 | -83.7% The estimate is significantly higher than the California general population. | -72.1% |
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6. Youth tobacco use: Youth tobacco use prevalence (e.g. cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other vaping products, other tobacco products) | 6.3% | 7.3% |
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Availability of tobacco & tobacco industry influence | ||
7. Cheapest cigarettes: Average price for the cheapest pack of cigarettes | $6.99 | $7.11 |
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8. Flavored little cigar price: Average price for a single flavored little cigar/cigarillo | $0.91 | $0.97 |
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9. Tobacco stores: Density of stores selling tobacco per 100,000 residents | 100.0 The estimate is 10.0 stores per 100,000 higher than the California general population. | 74.8 |
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10. Flavored tobacco: Proportion of stores that sell flavored non-cigarette tobacco products | 83.2% | 81.8% |
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11. Menthol cigarettes: Proportion of stores that sell menthol cigarettes | 90.5% | 88.3% |
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12. Tobacco advertising: Proportion of stores that keep 90% of their storefront free from any advertising | 32.2% | 40.1% |
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Secondhand smoke | ||
13. Adult secondhand tobacco exposure: Proportion of adults exposed to secondhand smoke or vape | 25.1% | 24.5% |
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14. Youth secondhand tobacco exposure: Proportion of youth exposed to secondhand smoke or vape | 27.8% The estimate is significantly lower than the California general population. | 32.9% |
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15. Smoke-free homes: Proportion of adults with smoke-free homes | 91.9% | 90.9% |
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Cessation | ||
16. Quitting: Proportion of smokers who tried quitting in the last 12 months | 68.4% | 57.9% |
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17. Doctor advice to quit: Proportion of smokers whose doctors advised them to quit | 44.8% | 49.1% |
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Kick It California | Percent of enrollees | Percent of smokers |
18. Kick It California Enrollees: Proportion of Kick It California enrollees | 21.1% The estimate is significantly lower than the population’s make-up of California’s adult smokers. | 36.0% of smokers are Hispanic/Latino |
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Organizations around the state are working to fix tobacco-related health disparities.
ACS CAN PP Tri-County South (Inland Empire)
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is the nation’s leading cancer advocacy organization and nonprofit. The Tri-County County South office of ACS CAN works to reduce tobacco-related health disparities and improve health in the Hispanic/Latino population in region through better policies that protect the public from tobacco-related harms, including Brawley, Coachella, Indio, Calexico, El Centro, Corona, Ontario, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, and San Bernardino and the following colleges: Chaffey (Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga), San Bernardino College of the Desert, Norco or Imperial Valley Colleges.
Hispanic/Latino Coordinating Center
The Hispanic/Lation (HL) Coordinating Center (HLCC) works to reduce tobacco-related disparities among the Latino population in California. The HLCC is committed to fostering collaboration and communication among HL regional projects to advance the needs of the underserved, develop a policy platform to facilitate the adoption and implementation of tobacco prevention strategies, and leverage resources and support systems to create statewide momentum on priorities for preventing and reducing tobacco use among HL populations in California.
Youth Organizing for Healthy and Prosperous Communities
Youth Organizing for Healthy and Prosperous Communities, administered by Future Leaders of America, Inc. (FLA), addresses health disparities among the Latino community in the Tri-County region through social change and advocacy. Through youth organizing, FLA aims to eliminate the sale and distribution of mentholated cigarettes and/or flavored tobacco products and nicotine delivery device products, adopt smoke-free housing units in Public Housing Authorities, and mobilize, organize youth, and their families to develop and sustain healthier, more prosperous, communities.
Resident-Led Systems Change in Unincorporated Alameda County and Neighboring Jurisdictions
Resident-Led Systems Change in Unincorporated Alameda County and Neighboring Jurisdictions endeavors to work with Latino and Spanish-speaking youth and adults in the Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Solano counties) to promote the adoption of smoke-free multi-unit housing, better access to cessation services, such as the California Smokers Helpline, and engage youth in tobacco control work.
South Coast Region Allies in Tobacco Control for Hispanics (SCRATCH)
Vista Community Clinic (VCC) serves a primarily low-income Hispanic/Latino population, working to mobilize youth in tobacco control activities, to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke in trade schools and affordable housing complexes, to improve access to cessation/quit services such as the California Smokers’ Helpline, and to educate vulnerable populations, community leaders and policy makers on policy options for reducing exposure to secondhand smoke.
Unidos Por Salud Project
Si Se Puede - North Valley Region
Si Se Puede advocates for policies that restrict the sale and promotion of mentholated cigarettes and flavored tobacco products and for smoke-free outdoor venues such as swap meets and farmer’s markets for communities in the North Valley Region (Shasta, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, Butte, and Yuba Counties). Si Se Puede works to educate and inform citizens, local elected officials, and law enforcement about the adverse health effects and dangers of mentholated and flavored tobacco products and exposure to secondhand smoke for the Hispanic and Latino communities.
LUCHA Tabaco - Gold Country! Latinos Unidos Contra el Habito y Adiccion al Tabaco (Fight Tobacco - Gold Country! Latinos United against the Consumption, Habit and Addiction to Tobacco)
The goal of the Gold Country Region Latino Tobacco Network- LUCHA Tabaco! Latinos Unidos Contra el Habito y Adiccion al Tabaco is to actively bring the Latino Voice into tobacco prevention work in the region to better meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the Hispanic/Latino community. We work to increase referrals of Latino smokers to cessation resources like the California Smokers Helpline, reinforce the commitment in the Latino community for smoke-free multi-unit housing and eliminate the sale of menthol and flavored tobacco products.
Compadres for Tobacco-free Los Angeles County
The goal of the Compadres for Smoke-free Los Angeles County Project is to eliminate tobacco-related disparities and increase health equity among the Hispanic/Latino priority population in Los Angeles County through local policy, systems and environment changes in the retail, multi-unit housing, education, and health care campus environments. We aim to reducee smoking prevalence, as well as exposure to secondhand and thirdhand smoke.
A Story of Inequity
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.1
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.2 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.