Posted on 05/28/2003 10:08:39 PM PDT by chance33_98
Philip Morris ads targeted gay community, documents show
BY BARBARA FEDER OSTROV Knight Ridder Newspapers
SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - In its push to find new smokers, tobacco giant Philip Morris targeted America's increasingly visible gay community as an enticing new market - only to distance itself after negative publicity, according to once-secret industry documents examined by University of California-San Francisco researchers.
The researchers detail how, in the early 1990s, Philip Morris first began advertising Benson and Hedges cigarettes in gay-oriented publications as marketers touted the burgeoning community's brand loyalty and spending clout.
But as unfavorable news reports and some angry, conservative consumers questioned the cigarette maker's macho "Marlboro Man" image, Philip Morris quickly emphasized that it was not targeting gays and downplayed its advertising in gay publications, saying that it was also advertising in Penthouse and Playboy.
The research article outlining the documents was released Wednesday and appears in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health. A related study focusing on a national AIDS advocacy group's 1990 boycott of Philip Morris also appears in the June issue of the journal Tobacco Control.
Research involving older tobacco industry documents may appear to describe ancient history, but it is highly relevant for today's tobacco control efforts because it arms health workers with critical intelligence on how the industry works, says leading anti-smoking advocate Dr. Stanton Glantz, who directs the UCSF's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
"This specific study shows the cynicism of the industry quite beautifully. It illustrates that they're just using gays the same way as everybody else, which is to addict them to nicotine," Glantz said. But once there was a political price, Glanz said, the industry "immediately backpedaled."
A spokesman for Philip Morris, now known as Altria, declined to comment on the UCSF research, saying company officials had not reviewed the documents in question.
But he said the company does not specifically target gays or any other population - an assertion challenged by many health researchers using tobacco industry documents.
"Our advertising is intended for a diverse audience - the 45 million Americans that smoke," said spokesman Billy Abshaw. "We want to make sure we're responsible in the way we advertise and market."
Little comprehensive data exist on rates of smoking in the gay community, but some research suggests that 32 to 42 percent of gay men between the ages 18 and 44 smoke, compared with about 23 percent of all Americans.
The UCSF researchers, supported by a grant from the anti-smoking Legacy Foundation, mined more than a million confidential tobacco industry documents made public as part of litigation, including the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement among 46 state attorneys general and the tobacco industry.
They honed in on Philip Morris's 1992 campaign to introduce a new type of Benson and Hedges cigarette nationwide. Advertising agency Leo Burnett recommended the gay community as an "area of opportunity for the brand," according to industry documents.
The gay lifestyle magazine Genre, in particular, welcomed the lucrative advertisements in part because of the validation a large, mainstream company would bring to the publication - and, by extension, to the community itself.
But an article in the Wall Street Journal sparked a nationwide torrent of unwanted publicity and some angry letters from straight smokers. Smirked the New York Post: "Don't look now, Marlboro Man - but you've got a brand-new gay partner."
Many of the reports mentioned the Uptown fiasco, in which R.J. Reynolds planned to market a high-nicotine cigarette specifically to blacks. The brand was pulled amid outrage from black health activists.
Philip Morris' ads weren't themselves gay-themed, and the company had taken direction from its ad agency. Still, executives denied any attempts to reach gays despite advertising in their magazines and contributing to gay causes such as AIDS prevention.
That denial was striking to the study's lead author Elizabeth Smith, an openly gay historian in UCSF's school of nursing.
Smith said the industry wanted to use the gay community the way it used the black community - "both as a market and as a whitewash."
In a related study in Tobacco Control, UCSF researchers detail how Philip Morris earlier established a relationship with the gay community through a failed boycott by ACT-UP, an AIDS advocacy group.
ACT-UP intended to pressure both Philip Morris and Miller Brewing to withdraw support from U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, a leading opponent of gay civil rights and AIDS funding. But that effort died down, the researchers concluded, after Philip Morris co-opted key gay community leaders by agreeing to financially support HIV/AIDS advocacy groups. Today, the debate over whether to accept philanthropy from alcohol and tobacco companies still rages in the gay community.
"There's a consciousness that needs to be raised about the products we buy and how that money can be used against us," said Gloria Soliz of San Francisco, board member and co-founder of the Coalition of Lavender Americans on Smoking and Health. "Unfortunately, these products, when used correctly, will kill you. And that's not good for our community."
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The tobacco industry documents used by UCSF researchers can be found at the http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu Web site.
And we wouldn't want to do anything dangerous or unhealthy.
Phillip-Morris realized there was a new demographic, and implemented a marketing campaign which focuses on said demographic group...
That the heterophobes in San Francisco are unhappy with this newfound advertising campaign is paradoxical- they want to be (not only) recognized, but have their every whim catered to... In other words, they want lots of attention on themselves, as a viable group (aka recognition and acceptance as a distinct demographic segment of society).
What are they whining about??? They got what they wanted...
FReegards,
Indeed, as have car makers, etc. They just want $$ :)
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