After decades of deception, Black adults who smoke menthol cigarettes are often unaware of the deceitful ways tobacco companies market their products to them, according to a Rutgers study.
“Evidence shows that the tobacco industry engages in predatory marketing tactics and that companies push certain products on specific groups,” said Kymberle L. Sterling, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and lead author of the study published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research. “The tobacco industry uses these predatory methods to target Black communities with menthol cigarettes, and many consumers are simply unaware.”
The findings come as a federal pledge to ban menthol cigarettes languishes. In April 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration disclosed plans to enact a menthol ban by August 2023, but the measure remains stalled. This month, a coalition of medical and civil rights groups sued the FDA for inaction. To read the full story.