Old Skool
Of course, the original flavored cigarette is the menthol, which is aggressively marketed to the black community, especially urban black youth. Menthols are often equated with hip-hop and DJing, as evidenced in this ad.
Photo source: tobaccofreekids.org
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 64 percent of African-American high school students who smoke use mentholated brands.
In addition to cigarettes, candy-flavored cigarillos, or little cigars like the ones below, are designed to appeal to teens and young adults.
Photo source: pipesandcigars.com
Photo source: campaignfortobaccofreekids.org
Photo source: riverfrontgifts.com
It’s funny that they advertise these as “blunts,” which, according to the dictionary, means it has been hollowed out and filled with marijuana. How come bongs have to be disguised as water pipes, but the tobacco industry gets to market their marijuana paraphernalia so openly? I’m not saying weed should necessarily be illegal, but … ain’t it?
Photo source: smokes-spirits.com
The good news (for the tobacco industry) is that targeted marketing works. A recent survey by the city of Baltimore found that, among eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds, the favorite brand of cigars was Black and Mild (parent company: Phillip Morris) which offer such flavors as cream, apple, and vanilla. Twenty-four percent had smoked them in the previous thirty days.
This resulted in Baltimore banning the sale of individual cigarillos, which sell for under a dollar apiece and, as singles, come without the surgeon general’s warning. Not that “cigars are not a safe alternative to cigarettes” is necessarily going to deter an eighteen-year-old.
The End of Sweet Cigarettes?
A bill pending in Congress would give, for the first time, the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. Included in this bill is banning the sale of flavored cigarettes. However, the bill doesn’t ban menthols, prompting objection from many anti-tobacco advocates in the African-American community.
And even so, that’s not likely to thwart the tobacco industry, that, according to the CDC, spends $35 million per day to recruit new consumers. Even if you don’t have kids, or are a smoker yourself, it behooves us all to look for ways to decrease the smoking prevalence; tobacco-related disease is the number one cause of preventable deaths in the U.S., and costs us (even the nonsmokers) billions in health-related economic losses. The tobacco companies reap billions in profits while our economy and health takes the hit—that’s hard to sugar coat.
