Stopping Menthol, Saving Lives: Ending Big Tobacco's Predatory Marketing to Black Communities

For more than 60 years and continuing today, the tobacco industry has targeted Black communities, especially children, with marketing for menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products like flavored cigars. The industry’s predatory marketing has had a devastating impact on Black health and lives. Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death among Black Americans, and tobacco-related health disparities in the Black community are largely the result of the tobacco industry’s intentional, targeted efforts to hook generations of Black Americans to deadly and addictive products.

This report documents the pervasive and deliberate targeting of Black communities and children with advertising and promotions for menthol cigarettes and the resulting destructive impact menthol cigarettes have had on the health of Black Americans. It describes the overwhelming scientific evidence showing that menthol cigarettes are even more harmful to public health than other cigarettes – they lead to greater smoking initiation by youth and young adults, greater addiction and reduced success in quitting smoking, with a disproportionate impact on Black Americans.