Study: Tobacco Ads Target Black Americans More Than Whites

It is the job of the tobacco companies to sell as many cigarettes as possible and get as many people as they can hooked on cigarettes by any means legally possible. Is there something wrong with this? I would say yes, but that's my opinion.

I read a local African American publication and it's loaded with ads from the local Indian casino, yet the casino doesn't put African-Americans in their advertisements. Other controversial products include malt liquor, the state lotto, and cash advance stores. I don't think it's so much the color of a person's skin but the income and education levels of the consumers.

David Livingston, Principal, DJL Research

As the article points out, the survey is fundamentally flawed by using very old information. Also, yes, the 17 percent of Kool advertising spent on promoting the brand to African Americans is higher than the group's proportion of the entire US population, but is it the appropriate amount given the percentage of blacks among Kool smokers? That's the more salient point. I hate to sound like a shill for the tobacco industry, but cigarettes remain a legal product and until that changes, manufacturers should be allowed to market them however they see fit.

Ron Margulis, Managing Director, RAM Communications

The University of Pittsburgh tobacco study cites data from 1969 and 1973 because the work is a review of previous studies, not a new-from-scratch data sample. The case would have much greater credibility if the data was recent. Isn't it odd to ask tobacco companies about their ethical standards?

Mark Lilien, Consultant, Retail Technology Group

Targeted consumer marketing has been around forever. Cereal Companies target kids on Saturday morning, and laundry care Companies target moms on daytime TV with the latest home cleaning solutions, and that's logical since those demographics have the greatest purchase and useage influence on their products.

Segmented, target marketing will gain greater levels of focus going forward, and tobacco companies are no different than any other category. Their job is to maximize their advertising spend against those consumers that most greatly impact sales.

Dan Nelson, CEO, Leadership Resources

I agree with David and Dan. The marketing industry has a goal in reaching the people most likely to be receptive to a message to try to convert them. Lots of research goes into finding the best demographic target audience and, even if the product is one that may not be good for the target audience, they go for it anyway. It's not against the law and it's simply a matter of free trade.

Laura Davis-Taylor, VP of Global Retail Strategy, Creative Realities, LLC

While I feel the research is probably accurate, I wonder what the results would have been if they had asked if tobacco ads target poor Americans rather than rich Americans. While I have no sympathy for any tobacco company, I have been around long enough to see when someone is doing "cause" research. Do college educated black men smoke more or less than college educated white men? I really don't think race has any thing to do with advertising decisions. Advertising decisions are far too sophisticated to waste one penny of reach or frequency based on race. I would bet that you will find that college educated white females smoke at a higher frequency than college educated black males. I am afraid that this "report" is designed to collect headlines and beyond that is of little real value. Remember, there are lies, damn lies and statistics--we are dealing with statistics and you can't believe anything you are reading.

Ed Dennis, president, Dennis Enterprises