2014 Counter-marketing Study in NYC used Tobacco Documents to Highlight Racism

This study and supporting tumblr blog reports on RISE (Racism Still Exists), a high-risk, high-reward public health intervention that used outdoor advertising to disseminate a “counter-marketing” campaign in New York City (NYC).

One component of the campaign was to use internal tobacco industry documents to demonstrate ways the industry marketed cigarettes, targeted specific populations, and sought to deny the dangers of smoking. Big Tobacco’s targeting of Black populations reveals much about how these companies perceived African Americans and the strategies they used to create and maintain Black smokers.

The RISE campaign generated significant public discourse, particularly in social media and the study results suggest that racism counter-marketing campaigns may have promise as a community-based intervention to address health inequalities.