Vincent “Newport” Orange

Every day I walk past the above “Vincent Orange” for Council Chairman and every day I am overcome with anger.  Here’s why:

1.  84% of all menthol smokers are black

2.  8 out of every 10 black youth smokers smoke Newports

Excerpt in a letter co-signed by: American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids-

Please click on this link to view full document with bibliography

“Since the 1960s, the tobacco industry has developed specific strategies to addict African Americans to menthol cigarettes, including capitalizing on misperceptions about menthol cigarettes being healthier, piggy-backing on popular African American cultural references, and forming close relationships with smaller neighborhood tobacco outlets to improve advertising and sales.1 Through market research and aggressive advertising, the industry has successfully penetrated this population.  84%  of all African American smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, as compared to 24 percent of all Caucasian smokers.2 The industry’s “investment” in the African American community has had a destructive impact: African Americans suffer the greatest burden of tobacco-related mortality of any ethnic or racial group in the United States.3 Research shows that cigarette company advertising and other marketing efforts greatly influence tobacco use initiation among adolescent non-smokers and maintenance among those youths who have already become regular smokers.4 More than 80 percent of all smokers start before the age of 18 and, not surprisingly, the vast majority of kids smoke the three most heavily advertised brands. 5,6 One of these heavily advertised brands, Newport, is the cigarette brand leader among African American youth in the United States.7 8/10 black youth smokers smoke Newport cigarettes.8″

and if that isn’t enough. .

• In the two years after the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in November 1998, the average annual expenditures for Newport in magazines with high youth readership increased 13.2 percent (from $5.3 to $6.0 million).14
• There are more interior and exterior tobacco advertising in retail outlets in low-income communities and communities with larger African American populations.12

SO WHY Mr. Orange would you run a campaign in which you would associate yourself with one of the #1 killers within the African American Community?