State health officials use social media to discourage menthol tobacco use

The state Department of Health Services is launching a campaign to discourage use of minty-flavored menthol tobacco products, which have a history of being advertised to Black communities nationally and in Wisconsin. 

Health officials have long warned people of the risks associated with flavored tobacco. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned flavored cigarettes in 2009, but not menthol. 

“This is a generations-old challenge,” said Paula Tran, a state health officer for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. 

The DHS campaign is using social media videos and collaborating with local organizations to discourage menthol tobacco use, and inform people about the potential harms. 

“Menthol is really added to tobacco to make it seem less harsh and allows for deeper inhales,” Tran said. It can hook young smokers early. “And that’s why, especially around that early initiation time, (it) can really support longer term smoking and addiction.”

Tobacco and nicotine are responsible for almost 8,000 deaths in Wisconsin annually, according to the DHS. If menthol cigarettes weren’t sold, about 17,200 more Wisconsinites would quit smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But menthol tobacco impacts some communities more than others, Tran said. 

“What we are seeing is menthol specifically is being marketed to African American communities and other communities of color, as well as youth and (the) LGBT population,” she said.

There’s a history of targeted marketing in Black communities, health officials said. In 2020, about 80 percent of Black adult smokers said they smoked menthol cigarettes, whereas nationally the number was just over 40 percent. A 2018 study in Milwaukee found menthol cigarette promotion was more common in predominantly Black neighborhoods. 

The DHS campaign hopes to combat this marketing. 

“Just imagine if we were able to tackle the menthol issue, the impact that we would have on health outcomes in African American communities,” said Lorraine Lathen, the director of the Wisconsin African American Tobacco Prevention Network. 

Her organization worked for months with DHS to develop the campaign. They helped test the messaging.

“Making sure that the messages were going to resonate with the populations that we’re trying to reach,” Lathen said. 

Pulmonologist Hasmeena Kathuria said education and outreach campaigns like this are important.

“Every person that you can get to stop menthol cigarette use is a win,” said Kathuria, who is the director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. 

In the future, she hopes for an all-out ban on menthol tobacco products. If not nationally, by state or city. A 2023 study estimated a national ban would reduce the number of deaths from smoking and vaping by about 650,000 over about 40 years. The authors also predicted more Black Americans would quit smoking. 

“So it’s critical to improve health equity,” Kathuria said.

Wisconsinites who want to quit smoking, or help others quit can get resources through the The Wisconsin Tobacco Quitline, according to the DHS. They can also text READY to 34191, or call 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669).