Tobacco industry marketing to low socioeconomic status women in the U.S.A.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Describe tobacco companies' marketing strategies targeting low socioeconomic status (SES) females in the U.S.A.

Methods

Analysis of previously secret tobacco industry documents.

Results

Tobacco companies focused marketing on low SES women starting in the late 1970s, including military wives, low-income inner-city minority women, 'discount-susceptible' older female smokers and less-educated young white women. Strategies included distributing discount coupons with food stamps to reach the very poor, discount offers at point-of-sale and via direct mail to keep cigarette prices low, developing new brands for low SES females and promoting luxury images to low SES African-American women. More recently, companies integrated promotional strategies targeting low-inc

SUBMITTER: Brown-Johnson CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4105326 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature