Tobacco companies zero in on US Latinos: “A group we can not afford to ignore”

Background: The Latino population in the United States is growing in size and influence. Tobacco companies are savvy marketers and we wanted to understand the marketing practices aimed at the U.S. Hispanic population over the last four decades. Methods: We analyzed previously secret internal tobacco industry documents in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Results: In the early 1970s Philip Morris (PM), British American Tobacco (BAT) and RJ Reynolds (RJR) began marketing to the U.S. Hispanic population in a bid to directly increase profits. Marketing channels included: hosting music festival in U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations; sponsoring baseball and soccer leagues in Latino neighborhoods; providing coupons for tobacco products in Spanish-language magazines like Replica and Selecciones; advertising during Spanish-speaking telenovelas and talk shows like Cristina; and hosting bar events in Hispanic neighborhoods. In the mid 1980's RJR increased marketing to the U.S. military to reach the large number of Hispanics in the armed services. These activities were strategically designed and implemented to increase brand visibility and make tobacco products “an integral part of their lives.” Implications: The insinuation of Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds tobacco products into the U.S. Latino population created a large smoking base through strategic, intense target marketing. The tobacco companies used Spanish-language media and other means of targeting the Latino population that may or may not be on the radar of tobacco control advocates. Therefore tobacco control advocates need to be aware of every entry point that big tobacco companies use to infiltrate the Hispanic population.