Tobacco Industry Strategies to Target the Hispanic Population: A Review of the Tobacco Industry Documents

Objectives:Hispanics make up the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Hispanics. The tobacco industry has targeted the Hispanic population as an important and profitable market for its products. The purpose of this study was to describe the tobacco industry's strategies to penetrate and disseminate their products among the Hispanic population. Methods:We conducted a systematic search and content analysis of tobacco industry documents using the Legacy Tobacco Industry Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu). Results:The tobacco industry developed sophisticated market and psychographic segmentation strategies beyond bilingualism to target the heterogeneous Hispanic market. Hispanics have been characterized by the tobacco industry as the most brand-loyal and youngest smoking group. In developing marketing strategies, the tobacco industry considered linguistic, cultural and regional differences among both foreign-born and native-born Hispanic groups. Additionally, they identified common themes and values such as familismo, a Hispanic cultural value with a focus on the family, and images of male virility. In particular, they tapped into a characteristically Hispanic concept of being an American, both proud of their cultural roots and language and with aspirations of the "American dream." Conclusions: Despite the public health efforts since 1964 to control tobacco products, the tobacco industry continued to advertise and promote to Hispanics. Due to U.S. demographic trends, smoking among Hispanics represents a growing public health concern. Increased understanding of tobacco industry marketing strategies and messaging could assist tobacco control researchers, public health advocates and policy initiatives.