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Group hopes to extinguish sales of new cigarette
Tuesday, October 19, 1999 By Ervin Dyer, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Tobacco industry giant Philip Morris wants to roll out a new cigarette -- Marlboro Milds, a menthol brand that critics say is aimed at minority markets -- and test market it in Pittsburgh.
But some local groups that are hoping to snuff out smoking in the black community want the new Marlboro Man to get on his horse and beat it.
Yesterday, the Greater Pittsburgh Coalition Against Marlboro Milds held a news conference at St. Paul Baptist Church, Point Breeze, at which coalition members said they want to ban the test-marketing of the cigarette and discourage its sales.
The conference was held simultaneously with one in Atlanta, the other city slated as a test market for the product, which is billed as having lower levels of tar and nicotine.
"We are concerned about the introduction of yet another menthol cigarette with the potential to addict black children and young adults," said the Rev. Diane Zigler of St. Paul Baptist Church.
Zigler said the black community already suffers from the consequences of tobacco-related diseases and Marlboro Milds will only add to the anguish by targeting black youths, who have one of the lowest smoking rates in the nation.
The protests in Pittsburgh and Atlanta were organized by the National Association of African Americans for Positive Imagery, a group that got its start by pressuring tobacco companies to be more sensitive to the black community. Coalition participants include the Homewood YMCA, Allegheny County Health Department and East End Cooperative Ministries.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, the national association in 1990 defeated the marketing of Uptown cigarette, an R.J. Reynolds product aimed specifically at the black community that was to debut during Black History Month. In 1997, it persuaded a national pharmacy company to stop selling Camel menthol cigarettes.
In July, Philip Morris unveiled its plans to test a menthol version of one of its most popular brands, Marlboro, saying it was embarking on an aggressive attempt to break into the minority-dominated menthol market.
Philip Morris has developed a campaign targeted to all adults, said Kati Otto, a company spokeswoman. Otto said advertising has been confined to general circulation newspapers and magazines, and that last year the company spent $100 million on a youth anti-smoking campaign.
Studies have shown that 75 percent of black smokers prefer menthol cigarettes and smoke cigarettes that are generally higher in tar and nicotine content than those smoked by whites. The three most popular brands among black smokers are Newport, Kool and Salem, all menthol cigarettes.
Researchers say menthol causes smokers to inhale more deeply and is associated with higher carbon monoxide concentrations, and menthol cigarettes create more cancer-causing agents than nonmenthol cigarettes.
In recent years, grass-roots leaders have stepped up their campaign for the tobacco industry to pull their billboards out of the black community and remove advertising from black magazines.
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