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Targeted Marketing of Tobacco and Nicotine Products

Statement of Policy

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists finds the targeting of women and other at-risk populations by the tobacco industry unconscionable and strongly opposes the practice.

The health risks of tobacco use disproportionately affect the health of women and are well documented (1,2). Additionally, cigarette use is higher among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States. It also is well known that smoking is harmful in pregnancy (4-11). Because of these well-known dangers, it is irresponsible for corporations involved in the production of tobacco products to single out a specific population, especially those who are young, marginalized, at risk of pregnancy, or educationally or otherwise underresourced, and encourage them to smoke.

Specifically, corporations involved in the production of tobacco and nicotine products (including, but not limited to cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, little cigars, bidis, kreteks, tobacco [including chew, snuff], and powdered/dissolvable tobacco in the form of strips, sticks, or lozenges) and electronic nicotine delivery systems, including e-cigarettes and vaping devices, must stop targeting their marketing efforts, including advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement, to encourage specific populations, particularly adolescents, to smoke cigarettes, or consume any form of tobacco or nicotine product (12). The health of all people and future generations demands that consideration.

In accordance with our concerns about the negative effects of tobacco use, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists will not accept funding for any purpose from corporations involved in the production of tobacco products.

References

  1. Office on Smoking and Health. Women and smoking: a report of the Surgeon General. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2001. Accessed July 27, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44303.

  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How tobacco smoke causes disease: the biology and behavioral basis for smoking-attributable disease: a report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2010. Accessed July 27, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53017.

  3. Tong VT, Dietz PM, Morrow B, D'Angelo DV, Farr SL, Rockhill KM, et al. Trends in smoking before, during, and after pregnancy--Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, United States, 40 sites, 2000-2010. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). MMWR Surveill Summ 2013;62(SS-06):1-19.

  4. Castles A, Adams EK, Melvin CL, Kelsch C, Boulton ML. Effects of smoking during pregnancy. Five meta-analyses. Am J Prev Med 1999;16:208-15. doi: 10.1016/s0749-3797(98)00089-0.

  5. Spinillo A, Nicola S, Piazzi G, Ghazal K, Colonna L, Baltaro F. Epidemiological correlates of preterm premature rupture of membranes. Int J Gynaecol Obstet 1994;47:7-15. doi: 10.1016/0020-7292(94)90454-5.

  6. Salihu HM, Aliyu MH, Pierre-Louis BJ, Alexander GR. Levels of excess infant deaths attributable to maternal smoking during pregnancy in the United States. Matern Child Health J 2003;7:219-27. doi: 10.1023/a:1027319517405.

  7. Søndergaard C, Henriksen TB, Obel C, Wisborg K. Smoking during pregnancy and infantile colic. Pediatrics 2001;108:342-6. doi: 10.1542/peds.108.2.342.

  8. von Kries R, Toschke AM, Koletzko B, Slikker W Jr. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and childhood obesity. Am J Epidemiol 2002;156:954-61. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwf128.

  9. England LJ, Kendrick JS, Wilson HG, Merritt RK, Gargiullo PM, Zahniser SC. Effects of smoking reduction during pregnancy on the birth weight of term infants. Am J Epidemiol 2001;154:694-701. doi: 10.1093/aje/154.8.694.

  10. DiFranza JR, Aligne CA, Weitzman M. Prenatal and postnatal environmental tobacco smoke exposure and children's health. Pediatrics 2004;113(4 suppl):1007-15.

  11. Tobacco and nicotine cessation during pregnancy. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 807. Obstet Gynecol 2020;135:e221-9. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000003822.

  12. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults: a report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2012. Accessed July 27, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK99237.

Approved by the Board of Directors July 1990
Reaffirmed July 2000
Revised and Approved July 2004
Reaffirmed July 2007
Revised and Approved July 2009
Revised and Reaffirmed July 2013
Revised and Reaffirmed July 2016
Revised and Reaffirmed July 2019
Revised and Reaffirmed July 2022