标题：“If You Know You Exist, It’s Just Marketing Poison”: Meanings of Tobacco Industry Targeting in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community
摘要：In the public health literature, it is generally assumed that the perception of “targeting” as positive or negative by the targeted audience depends on the product or message being promoted. Smoking prevalence rates are high among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, but little is known about how they perceive tobacco industry targeting. We conducted focus groups with LGBT individuals in 4 US cities to explore their perceptions. Our findings indicated that focus group participants often responded positively to tobacco company targeting. Targeting connoted community visibility, legitimacy, and economic viability. Participants did not view tobacco as a gay health issue. Targeting is a key aspect of corporate–community interaction. A better understanding of targeting may aid public health efforts to counter corporate disease promotion. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. 1 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals are particularly at risk. For example, one study showed that smoking rates among LGBT women (those either identifying as LGBT or reporting same-gender sexual contact) were nearly triple those among women overall (32.5% vs 11.9%); LGBT men’s smoking rate was 50% higher than that of men overall (27.4% vs 19.1%), and the rate among transgender individuals was 30.7%. 2 Elevated smoking rates in the LGBT community may be related to social disenfranchisement, discrimination, and the prominence of the bar culture as a means of socializing. 3 Smoking is frequently depicted in magazines targeted toward LGBT groups, in both editorial imagery and advertising. 4 , 5 Marketing to specific communities is commonly referred to as targeting. It is generally assumed that whether targeting is positive or negative depends on what is being promoted. Advocates “target” audiences with health promotion messages. 6 – 8 However, advocates and communities also object to “targeted” advertising promoting unhealthy products. 9 – 13 The targeting concept has been used for mobilization; for instance, in 1990, African Americans in Philadelphia successfully derailed RJ Reynolds’s plan to target Uptown cigarettes to African Americans. 14 , 15 Despite the term’s resonance, we are aware of only 1 previous study exploring how targeting is perceived by the group or groups being targeted. Consistent with advocates’ assumptions and the Uptown experience, the results of that study showed that tobacco company plans to target African Americans invoked anger and intentions to quit smoking and share information about tobacco industry targeting with others. 16 Targeted corporate advertising and consumerism can be used to communicate and enhance social identities. 17 However, corporations also have been identified as structural causes of disease. 18 Identities defined through consumption can encourage communities to accept corporate presence even when it promotes products, such as tobacco, that are inimical to health. In the United States, political gains in the LGBT community have developed in parallel with the community’s representation in consumer culture. 19 In the early 1990s, tobacco companies were among the first large corporations to advertise in LGBT publications and offer sponsorship and philanthropy to LGBT organizations. 20 Some in the LGBT population viewed this development with alarm, whereas others perceived it as indicating increased acceptance. 20 We sought to increase understanding of the perceptions of the LGBT community regarding tobacco industry targeting and to assess whether, as with the African American community, exposure to evidence of such targeting has the potential to mobilize the community for tobacco control.
