Taking it to the streets: Responses of African American young adults to internal tobacco industry documents

Abstract

Since the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 between 46 states and the major tobacco companies forced the release of over 30 million pages of previously secret internal tobacco industry documents, researchers have been exploring how information in the documents can be useful for advancing public health efforts. Previous research shows that the tobacco industry has made massive efforts to target marginalized communities, not only through typical advertising channels but also through establishing financial and other ties with influential leadership groups. However, no previous studies have explored how members of targeted groups might respond at the grassroots level to actual internal tobacco industry documents about such targeting. This exploratory focus group study, which invited urban African American participants to comment on previously secret internal tobacco industry documents, suggests that such documents may be useful in efforts to socially denormalize tobacco use, promote critical reflection about community targeting, and mobilize individuals toward quitting.