Tobacco Industry Accused of Aggressively Marketing to Women and Girls.

Anti-smoking groups are criticizing the tobacco industry for launching “its most aggressive marketing campaigns aimed at women and girls in over a decade.”
Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds in the past two years have been selling smoking as “feminine and fashionable,” according to a report released last week by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.The groups criticized Philip Morris for marketing Virginia Slims with mauve and teal “purse packs” that are half the size of regular packs, allowing them to fit into small handbags. By using descriptions such as “Superslims Lights,” the company is trying to associate smoking with weight control, the report says.
The groups also take on R.J. Reynolds, which has spent more than $25 million to launch “Camel No. 9” cigarettes, sold in glossy black boxes with fuchsia and teal accents. The ads include slogans such as “now available in stiletto,” a thin cigarette for “the most fashion forward woman.”
David Howard, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds, says his company hasn’t run any print ads in more than a year. He says R. J. Reynolds has a right to market its products to adult women. Howard says R.J. Reynolds developed its new products through market research with women.
Howard said the idea that women will begin smoking because of pink packages is “offensive” and insults women’s intelligence. Howard adds that data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that Camel is not a popular brand among teens, showing that the company’s advertisements are reaching adults, not kids.

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

Posted on February 20, 2009 in Cancer, Women's health Permalink