Susan Middlestadt, PhD¹, Kimberly Maxwell, PhD², Jesse Gelwicks, MA², Junette McWilliams, MA², and Caryn Sweeney, MA². (1) Center for Applied Behavioral and Evaluation Research, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20009, 2028848874, smiddles@aed.org, (2) Center for Applied Behavioral Evaluation and Research, Academy for Educational Development, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20009

The tobacco companies’ internal documents reveal the long-term efforts to segment and market cigarettes to distinct groups of women, with devastating results. The destruction perpetrated by tobacco use among women has far outstripped women’s awareness of the health threats of smoking. More smokers are quitting during pregnancy, but evidence shows that at least half of new moms relapse within 6 months of delivery, despite the fact that maternal smoking is one of the greatest single causes for SIDS deaths. Evidence is emerging that at the same levels of consumption, smoking is more than twice as lethal for women than for men. The 80 years of tobacco advertising directly to women have successfully exploited their evolving role in American society (e.g., positioning cigarettes as “torches of freedom” during the suffragette movement, as symbols of independence during women’s liberation, and as signifiers of individualism during the 1990s by co-opting images of a multi-cultural American society). Understanding how tobacco companies have succeeded in selling death to women is an important first step in developing successful social marketing efforts to keep women tobacco-free. Key points in women’s lives present unique opportunities for interventions to keep them and their children safe from tobacco marketing. Based largely on the information available in the internal industry documents, participants will learn how to utilize these opportunities for health, as tobacco companies have exploited them for profits.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Recognize how tobacco companies continue to addict women.
• 2. Analyze the marketing methods used by tobacco companies to target females.
• 3. Create campaigns to counter-market health to prevent and reduce smoking among women.

Keywords: Tobacco Control, Women's Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.