Gay marketing expert Bob Witeck (left) and Scout, director of the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network, offered suggestions to directors of state-sponsored smoking quit lines on how to target gay and lesbian smokers. (Photo by Ryan Lee)
Anti-smoking experts urged to target gays Atlanta conference includes strategies to reach gay smokers
From
the
pervasive
presence
of
cigarettes
in
gay
bars
and
some
social
circles,
to
gay-targeted
ads
and
promotions
that
make
smoking
look
sexy
and
popular,
there
are
many
social
and
marketing
forces
that
contribute
to
gay
men,
lesbians
and
transgender
individuals
being
an
estimated
40-70
percent
more
likely
to
be
addicted
to
smoking
than
other
groups.
But
there
is
little
counter-messaging
being
done
by
either
mainstream
anti-smoking
initiatives
or
gay
health
groups,
experts
said
during
a
discussion
Wednesday
at
the
annual
meeting
of
the
National
Network
of
Tobacco
Cessation
Quitlines
in
Atlanta.
“You
don’t
get
the
other
side
of
the
story,”
said
Bob
Witeck,
CEO
of
Witeck-Combs
Communications,
a
gay
marketing
and
consulting
firm.
Witeck
teamed
up
with
Scout,
network
director
for
the
National
LGBT
Tobacco
Control
Network,
to
coach
leaders
of
state-sponsored
smoking
quit
lines
from
across
the
country
on
how
to
use
a
similar
brand
of
targeted
marketing
to
get
anti-smoking
information
to
gays.
“We
would
like
to
believe
that
general
media
[anti-smoking
messages]
are
able
to
make
it
across
populations,”
said
Scout,
a
female-to-male
transgender
anti-smoking
advocate
who
goes
by
just
one
name.
“But
we
know
that
there
are
groups
within
the
broader
population
that
have
prevalence
rates
that
are
so
much
higher
that
something
different
is
working
in
those
groups
—
LGBT
people
are
one
of
those
populations,”
Scout
said.
“[Some
gay
people]
feel
like
an
outsider,
you
don’t
feel
like
part
of
the
club,
which
means
you
don’t
react
to
broad
messages
the
same
way
that
other
people
do,”
said
Scout,
who
added
that
gays
themselves
should
make
quitting
smoking
a
higher
health
priority.
“We
need
to
break
ourselves
out
of
the
complacency
where
we
do
not
address
it
as
a
health
priority
within
our
communities,
and
by
addressing
it,
I
don’t
mean
telling
someone
they
need
to
quit,”
Scout
said.
“I
think
we
need
to
understand
that
with
tobacco,
the
cumulative
toll
on
our
community
makes
this
one
of
our
biggest
health
issues
and
we’ve
got
to
stop
pretending
like
it’s
just
part
of
us.”
A
Witeck-Combs
survey
from
2003
and
2004
revealed
that
34
percent
of
gay
and
lesbian
adults
said
they
smoked,
compared
to
24
percent
of
other
adults,
while
90
percent
said
they
had
never
seen
an
anti-smoking
ad
that
specifically
targeted
gays.
Practical,
budget
concerns
Leaders
of
the
Georgia
Tobacco
Quit
Line
who
attended
Wednesday’s
conference
said
they
are
eager
to
implement
gay-specific
programs,
but
political
concerns
and
a
shoestring
budget
make
such
initiatives
unlikely.
“We
do
have
a
large
[gay]
population,
we
know
that,
but
this
is
Georgia
and
it’s
so
conservative,”
said
Rhonda
Bennett,
tobacco
cessation
specialist
with
the
Georgia
quit
line.
“Right
now,
our
funding
is
almost
nil.
There
just
isn’t
the
capacity
there
to
work
with
the
different
populations
in
Georgia
that
we
would
like
to.”
Representatives
from
several
state
quit
lines
said
they
are
reaching
out
to
gay
and
lesbian
smokers
that
are
looking
to
quit.
The
New
Jersey
quit
line
incorporated
a
gay
chat
room
into
its
program
that
sees
about
7,000
unique
visitors
per
month,
compared
to
the
quit
line
receiving
between
100-350
calls
during
the
same
time.
A
small
but
growing
number
of
state
quit
lines
ask
callers
about
their
sexual
orientation
when
collecting
demographic
information,
something
Scout
said
is
important
so
anti-smoking
programs
know
which
populations
are
in
greatest
need
of
resources.
“If
you
aren’t
[asking
callers
their
sexual
orientation],
then
you’re
part
of
the
‘let’s
not
get
any
of
the
information
so
we
can
make
many
of
the
breakouts
or
figure
out
how
much
we’re
impacting
things,’”
Scout
told
the
quit
line
leaders.
“We
need
to
ask
that
question
more
because
we
really
need
that
data.”
Quit
lines
in
Midwestern
and
Southwest
states
have
included
questions
about
sexual
orientation
in
their
demographic
surveys
with
little
drop-off
or
negative
reaction
among
callers,
Scout
said.
But
Bennett
doesn’t
have
the
same
faith
in
introducing
the
question
to
Georgia’s
quit
line.
“If
you
were
to
ask
that
question
here
in
the
South,
people
might
not
take
it
the
right
way,”
Bennett
said.
“So
we
have
to
be
very
careful
about
being
politically
correct,
although
we
understand
there
is
an
issue
[with
higher
smoking
rates
among
gay
Georgians].”
In
addition
to
crafting
anti-smoking
messages
that
speak
directly
to
gay,
lesbian,
bisexual
and
transgender
smokers,
Scout
and
Witeck
said
it’s
important
to
deliver
those
messages
through
...
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