Menthol Cigarettes and American Youth's Smoking Habits

All tobacco products attract a certain degree of controversy due to their harmful nature. But menthol cigarettes are particularly controversial because they are preferred by roughly 80% of African-American smokers. Critics of menthol cigarettes argue that tobacco companies target black smokers by tailoring advertisements to an African-American audience. Many of those critics say that menthol cigarettes should be banned in the U.S. for that reason.

Another group disproportionately affected by menthol-cigarette advertising, critics say, is young people. Various studies suggest that teenage smokers are more likely to choose menthol cigarettes than adult smokers are. For example, a July 2008 study by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass., found that roughly 44% of smokers age 12 to 17 prefer smoking menthols, compared with 35.6% of smokers age 18 to 24 and 27% of the overall U.S. smoking population. Unsurprisingly, African-American teenagers smoke menthol cigarettes at a far higher rate than teenagers of other races: roughly 80% of black teenage smokers prefer menthol cigarettes, compared with 32% of white teenagers and 45% of Hispanic teens.

In many cities with high African-American populations, teenage smoking is an epidemic. In Baltimore, Md., for example, city officials found that 60% of young African Americans from lower-income families smoked, and nearly all of them smoked menthol cigarettes. (The vast majority of black teenage smokers in Baltimore smoke Newport cigarettes, made by Lorillard Tobacco Company. Newport is by far the most popular menthol cigarette in the U.S.)

In October 2007, health officials in Baltimore agreed to begin offering free nicotine patches and nicotine gum to smokers. Nicotine patches and gum release nicotine into the body, thereby curbing the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Additionally, officials touted a plan to curb the sale of loose cigarettes, or "loosies." In some large U.S. cities, convenience stores sell single cigarettes, which they have removed from a larger pack. Officials in Baltimore said that young people are more likely than older smokers to purchase one cigarette at a time, rather than packs or cartons.

Statistics show that 90% of adult cigarette smokers began smoking during their teenage years. That is why it is so important to reduce teenage smoking, health officials say. Additionally, the focus on menthol cigarettes is important, officials say, because many smokers start by smoking the mint-flavored menthols. "Tobacco companies know one of the most effective ways to boost sales is to make cigarettes more palatable to first-time smokers, notably children and teens, by disguising the unpleasant taste of inhaled smoke and adding a fresh, minty flavor and cooling effect," write Louis Sullivan, Joseph Califano and William Robinson. (The writers are, respectively, a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; and the executive director of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network.)

Sullivan, Califano and Robinson further note that very few teenage smokers choose standard, unflavored cigarettes. In fact, in the survey of teenage smokers in Baltimore, officials found that approximately one out of four smokers prefers to smoke a brand of miniature cigars, or cigarillos, called Black & Mild, manufactured by John Middleton, Inc. (John Middleton is owned by Altria Group, Inc., a multinational tobacco conglomerate that also owns Philip Morris USA, the makers of Marlboro cigarettes.) Black & Milds come in flavors such as apple, wine and cherry-vanilla. Although the cigarillos are not meant to be inhaled, Baltimore officials found that many Black & Mild smokers do, in fact, draw smoke into their lungs.

Observers say that in recent years, tobacco companies have become slightly more sensitive to the popular conception that some of their advertisements and products are geared toward younger smokers. For example, in January 1997, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company introduced its Camel Menthol cigarettes. The advertising campaign for the new cigarettes featured Joe Camel, the company's popular cartoon "spokesman." During the first half of 1997, ads for Camel Menthol depicted Joe Camel--typically clad in a leather jacket, jeans and sunglasses--smoking a cigarette while sitting on a motorcycle or playing billiards. The tagline for the advertisements simply said, "Menthol."

Joe Camel had been the focus of controversy for several years by the time the menthol ads debuted. A 1991 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that young children were more likely to recognize Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse. Despite public outcry, R.J. Reynolds refused to retire the character.

However, the Camel Menthol ads proved to be Joe Camel's undoing. Observers argued that the ads glorified cigarette smoking by depicting Joe Camel engaged in behavior that children would perceive as "cool," all while smoking a cigarette. They further argued that the ads especially targeted African-American children and teenagers, because some of Joe Camel's actions--such as playing saxophone in a jazz band--were stereotypically "black." (In some of the ads, Joe Camel even sported a "flat top" haircut especially popular with African-American youth at the time.) By July 1997, faced with immense public pressure, R.J. Reynolds agreed to pull the Joe Camel character from all future advertisements.

Sources

Bork, Robert. "Addicted to Health," National Review (July 28, 1997): 28.

Brooke, James. "Attorneys General Defend Landmark Tobacco Pact," New York Times (June 25, 1997): D6.

Califano, Joseph, Jr. "No Immunity For Big Tobacco," Washington Post (March 19, 1998): A21.