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Funding without transparency? Tobacco company support of Black-owned businesses in the USA
  1. Jeannie Garmon1,
  2. Kymberle Sterling1,
  3. Olivia A Wackowski2,3,
  4. Ollie Ganz2,3,
  5. Jon-Patrick Allem4,
  6. Andrea C Villanti5
  1. 1Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
  2. 2Rutgers Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
  3. 3Department of Health Behavior, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
  4. 4Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
  5. 5Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jeannie Garmon; garmonje{at}rutgers.edu

https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2024-058721

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    Systemic racism in the USA has resulted in underfunding of Black/African American-led organisations1 compared with White-led organisations.2–4 For decades, tobacco companies have exploited economic inequality in the Black/African American community5 by funding or sponsoring Black/African American-serving newspapers and magazines,6 7 cultural institutions,8 Black/African American politicians and other influential individuals9–12 and entertainment events.5 Tobacco companies have also used corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes13 to gain social and political favours.14 For example, in the wake of demands for racial justice in 2020, some tobacco companies announced initiatives aimed at supporting the Black/African American community in purported service of racial equity.15 Here, we examine one recent initiative.

    The John Middleton Company, a subsidiary of Altria Group and maker of Black & Mild cigars, a top-selling cigar brand in the USA,16 highlights its ‘Black Owned Business Initiative’ (figure 1), involving investments ‘to combat systemic racism’ by ‘help(ing) close the economic gap for Black-owned businesses’.17 Its website names as partners The Enterprise Centre (TEC), a ‘Black-owned nonprofit organisation’, which operates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey, and an …

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    Footnotes

    • X @ksterling75

    • Contributors KLS and ACV conceived of the idea for the piece. JG performed the research and wrote the first draft of the manuscript in consultation with KLS and ACV. JG also wrote the first draft of the revised document. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the final manuscript. JG is the guarantor.

    • Funding This study was funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA058261), National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01MD018728), Center for Tobacco Products (U54CA229973).

    • Competing interests Effort of the authors was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01MD018728 (KLS, ACV, OG, OAW, JPA, JG), the National Institute on Drug Abuse under award R01DA058261 (KLS, JG, ACV) and the National Cancer Institute and FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) through award U54CA229973 (JG, OG, OAW, ACV). The content is solely the authors’ responsibility and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing the report or submitting the report for publication. JPA has received fees for consulting services in court cases pertaining to the content on social media platforms. He reports no other conflicts of interest. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.