Their Secret Plot To Target Black Children Still Harms Us Today
Black History Year
PushBlack
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2025
⏱️ 4 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A white truck pulled into her Boston housing project — but it wasn’t selling ice cream. Instead, it was a tobacco company giving menthol cigarette samples to children! And Black communities are still suffering deadly consequences of their secret, targeted marketing.
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Transcript
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| 0:32.0 | A white truck pulled into her Boston housing project, but it wasn't selling ice cream. Instead, it was a tobacco |
| 0:39.5 | company giving menthol cigarette samples to children, and black communities are still suffering |
| 0:46.1 | deadly consequences because of this secret targeted marketing. This is Two-Minute Black History, |
| 0:53.4 | what you didn't Learn in School. |
| 1:04.2 | A white truck pulled onto their block and the children approached, but this wasn't the ice cream man. |
| 1:16.6 | Instead, a rep from a tobacco company was handing out cigarette samples. Marie Evans was one of the children. |
| 1:19.6 | She began smoking at 13 after receiving samples from Lurielard tobacco. |
| 1:24.6 | But the story gets worse. |
| 1:28.5 | Companies use predatory marketing tactics to target us, like hooking children, plastering |
| 1:33.7 | billboards all over our neighborhoods, sponsoring black events, and marketing the coolness |
| 1:39.4 | of mentholz. |
| 1:41.0 | Millions of blacks have been killed, including Evans, who died from lung cancer at 54 years young. |
| 1:48.0 | Today, 85% of black smokers use highly addictive menthols, making it harder to quit. |
| 2:08.9 | The Biden administration is working to ban them. |
| 2:12.9 | Previous bans have focused on sweet flavors, but never menthol. While this may help some quit, it also revokes the choices of black consumers without providing solutions for care, |
| 2:25.3 | like counseling or quitting programs. In addition, it doesn't hold companies accountable for getting us hooked in the first place. |
| 2:33.3 | Eric Garner was killed on the suspicion of selling loose cigarettes and George Floyd was |
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