Abstract

The overall objectives of this project are to retrieve and analyze internal tobacco industry documents to describe industry strategies for targeting gay and lesbian populations, to assess effects of such strategies, and to explore how the issues raised in the documents are received by target groups. Evidence suggests that gays and lesbians, as a group, may have higher tobacco use rates than the general population, thus being at increased risk for tobacco-related diseases. This study will systematically document the extent, nature and effects of tobacco industry strategies for targeting gays and lesbians, thereby contributing knowledge useful for reducing tobacco-related health risks in this understudied population.
The aims of the project are:
Specific Aim # 1: Retrieve and analyze internal tobacco industry documents in order to describe: a) tobacco industry advertising and marketing strategies targeting gays and lesbians; b) how the tobacco industry seeks to influence tobacco control policy making within gay and lesbian communities; c) whether these efforts succeed in supporting the industry's larger public policy agenda.
Specific Aim #2 : Analyze the effects of industry strategies identified in the documents by analyzing the content of tobacco related articles in a sample of widely-read publications aimed for gay and/or lesbian audiences and comparing it with data from documents analyzed as part of Specific Aim # 1, and with data from a sample of general circulation publications.
Specific Aim #3 : Explore and describe how industry targeting strategies identified in the documents are received by their intended audiences by interviewing leaders of national gay/lesbian organizations and editors of gay/lesbian publications and conducting focus groups with gay and lesbian individuals.
Specific Aim #4 : Utilizing findings from Specific Aims #1, 2,and 3, develop and disseminate, with assistance from a panel of gay and lesbian advisers, specific recommendations for public health interventions aimed at addressing the issues identified in the document analyses.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA090789-03
Application #
6634017
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1-SRRB-Q (J1))
Program Officer
Bloch, Michele H
Project Start
2001-06-01
Project End
2005-05-31
Budget Start
2003-06-20
Budget End
2004-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$275,456
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
University of California San Francisco
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Nursing
DUNS #
094878337
City
San Francisco
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94143

  Publications

Smith, Elizabeth A; Thomson, Katherine; Offen, Naphtali et al. (2008) ""If you know you exist, it's just marketing poison"": meanings of tobacco industry targeting in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Am J Public Health 98:996-1003
Offen, Naphtali; Smith, Elizabeth A; Malone, Ruth E (2008) Is tobacco a gay issue? Interviews with leaders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Cult Health Sex 10:143-57
Smith, Elizabeth A; Malone, Ruth E (2007) 'We will speak as the smoker': the tobacco industry's smokers'rights groups. Eur J Public Health 17:306-13
Yerger, Valerie B; Malone, Ruth E (2006) Melanin and nicotine: A review of the literature. Nicotine Tob Res 8:487-98
Smith, Elizabeth A; Offen, Naphtali; Malone, Ruth E (2006) Pictures worth a thousand words: noncommercial tobacco content in the lesbian, gay, and bisexual press. J Health Commun 11:635-49
McDaniel, Patricia A; Solomon, Gina; Malone, Ruth E (2006) The ethics of industry experimentation using employees: the case of taste-testing pesticide-treated tobacco. Am J Public Health 96:37-46
Smith, Elizabeth A; Offen, Naphtali; Malone, Ruth E (2005) What makes an ad a cigarette ad? Commercial tobacco imagery in the lesbian, gay, and bisexual press. J Epidemiol Community Health 59:1086-91
McDaniel, P A; Malone, R E (2005) Understanding Philip Morris's pursuit of US government regulation of tobacco. Tob Control 14:193-200
Offen, N; Smith, E A; Malone, R E (2005) The perimetric boycott: a tool for tobacco control advocacy. Tob Control 14:272-7
Apollonio, D E; Malone, R E (2005) Marketing to the marginalised: tobacco industry targeting of the homeless and mentally ill. Tob Control 14:409-15

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