The Tobacco Documents

Over 200 years since the first establishment of tobacco companies in the US, the sale of tobacco is still alive and kicking with revenues from tobacco tax amounting to 12.14 billion dollars in 2021. Big tobacco corporations owe much of this success to aggressive marketing strategies that have since been questioned by the public, various health organizations, and even the law. But many remain unaware of these discriminatory tactics that are affecting our society today.

The Tobacco Industry Documents is an archive created in 2002 by the UCSF Library. It was built to house and provide access to internal corporate documents produced during litigation between states and the tobacco industry. The documents date as far back as the late 1800’s and many of them detail explicit plans to market to impressionable groups. For instance, among those files is a research paper conducted by Philip Morris which examined youth smoking patterns. In the paper, they call teens an optimal demographic due to peer-pressure and state that “today’s teenager is tomorrow’s regular customer”.

In the same vein of advertising to the younger population, Brown & Williamson Tobacco corporation had an entire project on developing new concepts for youth cigarettes. The project report listed marketing suggestions in the realm of flavored tobacco. Since “teenagers like sweet products,” flavors like honey were considered.

But it isn’t just the youth that tobacco companies want as their main customers. R.J. Reynolds has a paper entitled A Study of Ethnic Markets in which the preface states:

“[In the past 4 years], R.J. Reynolds has spent $5,260,000 tailoring advertising to the Negro, Spanish-Language, and Jewish special markets. The consumers in these markets have grown steadily… [they] comprise a potent force of 38,000,000 potential customers.”

A Study of Ethnic Markets uses racist statements and demographic information to form a business strategy including a detailed plan for ‘Negro-Oriented Advertising’. The Tobacco Documents are proof that the company deliberately studied Black culture and lifestyle in order to exploit it.

“They try to make ads relevant to the community and target specific groups like racial minorities and low income regions,” says Priya Raman, a member of national health justice organization APPEAL (Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership). “It’s a social justice issue.”

Of course, applying these advertising strategies was a long-term objective. In a leaked 1975 letter between Camel Cigarette executives discussing their shift in target age profile, they say, “this won’t come overnight. Patience, persistence, and consistency will be needed.” About half a century since big tobacco companies have begun this sly marketing endeavor, perhaps they have already succeeded. Priya states that the industry has infiltrated mainstream media. “It’s in TV and movies… you can’t really avoid it.”

Data on prominent areas for tobacco commercials and shops support this as well. Low-income neighborhoods have denser concentrations of tobacco retailers and are more likely to have tobacco retailers near schools compared to other neighborhoods. More tobacco retailers exist in areas with larger black, Hispanic and low-income populations. In addition, predominantly black communities tend to have cheaper prices for menthol cigarettes. In Washington, D.C., stores in these neighborhoods were up to ten times more likely to display tobacco ads inside and outside than retailers in areas with fewer black residents.

A 2015 research paper states:

“... smoking continues to disproportionately affect lower-income and less-educated communities; racial and ethnic populations; and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities. Predatory marketing practices targeting these communities are no longer covert, but palpable, and technological advances have made both the development and sale of new tobacco products seem an indomitable challenge to overcome.”

Many often dismiss data and papers, not knowing where to find them or which sources to trust, but the evidence is right in our midst and the issues they discuss are still relevant. As documents presented to the court straight from the big tobacco companies themselves, the Tobacco Industry Documents is a reliable source that gives insight into the workings of one of America’s largest industries. These papers are relatively unheard of, but they shouldn’t be. Cheryl Balm, a professor at a local community college who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising, states the documents may be especially relevant to teenagers, college age kids, and those unaware of the people affected by these marketing tactics. ”People might not know the history.”

Youth smoking pattern research and A study of Ethnic Markets are just some of the many examples of questionable business practices uncovered by the Tobacco Documents. You can view the entire archive here.