From infrastructural racism to the lack of resources, marginalized populations are targeted by others with long-lasting impacts, both systematically and health-wise, every day. Specifically, we see tobacco companies target many marginalized groups, particularly the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Over half (54.5%) of lesbian or gay adults who smoke, use menthol cigarettes. Menthol cigarettes are easier to smoke and less harsh to consume making the intake of nicotine much more enjoyable1. Therefore, those who use menthol cigarettes can get hooked to nicotine way more easily.
Tobacco companies have developed many different strategies to gain the reliance of some marginalized communities on their products.
One example of a strategy is “Project SCUM” where advertisements, along with tobacco products were placed in areas where more homeless gay people lived2. Further, in these areas, tobacco products would be sold at lower prices. This means that people would often buy these products due to accessibility and lower cost in their home areas.
Another example can be seen in LGBTQIA2S + publications including advertisements that depict tobacco use as a “normal” part of LGBTQIA2S + life. So often, tobacco products are normalized in the media and therefore a lot of its dangers are overlooked. Furthermore, queer identities are exploited to spread a positive narrative about tobacco. They too, are used to normalize the usage of tobacco products. In fact, slogans like “Remember to be yourself. Everyone else is taken,” is used by companies like Blu, along with an image of a queer person smoking, to encourage smoking2. This slogan also conveys a message for people of LGBTQIA2S+ communities to be themselves. As a population that is constantly targeted, this messaging makes tobacco companies seem more supportive and less harmful towards the LGBTQIA2S+ communities.
It is devastating to see and hear that people who have been constantly targeted for generations are subjected to even more abuse because they are seen as an easier target. LGBTQIA2S+ individuals face much more social discrimination. As a result, they might turn to tobacco use simply as a way of escape. There is this lack of empathy, where human lives are at stake for business and revenue.
Every year, tens of thousands of LGBTQIA2S+ people die from tobacco-related diseases. It is important to amplify this issue and to hold tobacco companies accountable for their discriminatory methods. One changed life is a ripple through generations.
Bingjie Dong
Reality Check Youth Intern, Manhattan
NYC Smoke-Free, Public Health Solutions
Sources
- American Cancer Society. Big Tobacco Targets the LGBTQ+ Community. 15 Dec. 2022.
- “Big Tobacco Targets the LGBTQ… | LGBTQ Minus Tobacco.” LGBTQ Minus Tobacco, 2024, www.lgbtqminustobacco.org/big-tobacco-targets-lgbtq. Accessed 6 Aug. 2024.
- Dawson, Lindsey, et al. “LGBT+ People’s Health Status and Access to Care – Issue Brief.” KFF, 30 June 2023, www.kff.org/report-section/lgbt-peoples-health-status-and-access-to-care-issue-brief/.
