Back To News Releases
We've Come a Long Way, Baby?
10/31/2008
American Legacy Foundation®, Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Express Concern as Philip Morris Announces Plans to Market Virginia Slims, Dressed in Pink, to Nation’s Young Women
WASHINGTON, D.C. – October is national breast cancer awareness month—a time when the public health community and the public at large are focused on demonstrating support for breast cancer awareness and survivors by donning pink accessories and using iconic pink symbols, raising much needed funds to find the cures for breast cancer. Philip Morris’ announcement this month of its plans to roll out its Virginia Slims Super Slims Ultra Lights and Virginia Slims Super Slims Lights, to be sold in sleek pink boxes called “Purse Packs” is an insult to all of those struggling to protect women’s health and the millions of women who have battled and are battling breast cancer.
These new “Purse Packs”, wrapped in pink packaging and clearly designed to appeal to young women, present a serious public health threat. Tobacco-related diseases kill more than 178,000 women in the U.S. every year – one every three minutes. Research suggests that young women who begin smoking in early adolescence are more likely to develop breast cancer.
“Philip Morris’s timing of this announcement is particularly outrageous,” said Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H., president and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation, a national public health foundation devoted to tobacco use prevention and cessation. “The pink ‘Purse Packs’ of cigarettes – the deadliest consumer product in the world – are an insult to the women and their families who have suffered from breast cancer and to all of those who are fighting so hard to find the cures for this disease.”
“Susan G. Komen for the Cure has spent 26 years helping people with breast cancer. We cannot fight to save lives on one front and ignore the substantial risks posed to women by smoking. We must stand together to protect women’s health on all fronts,” said Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest breast cancer advocacy organization.
One year ago, the American Legacy Foundation and a coalition of leading public health and women’s organizations expressed similar concerns over R.J. Reynolds’ introduction of its Camel No. 9 brand. The cigarette packs featured stylish packaging and advertising featuring black, bright pink and teal colors, a female-friendly design motif and a name evocative of women’s fashion icons. The groups asserted Camel No. 9 was directly targeted to teenage girls and young women – and should be pulled off store shelves. The American Legacy Foundation and Komen for the Cure now argue the Purse Packs are no different – obviously targeted to women and young girls – and should be prohibited from making it to store shelves.
Philip Morris’ Virginia Slims brand has been a threat to women’s health ever since its initial launch in 1968. The brand’s catch phrase, “You’ve Come a Long Way Baby,” invoked feelings of independence and strength and initiated a dangerous upward trend in young female smokers. This new product has the potential to be just as dangerous.
Smoking affects a woman’s reproductive health and increases the risk of infertility, low birth weight, preterm labor, stillbirth and SIDS. Smoking increases a woman’s risk of heart disease and lung disease, in addition to cancer of the bladder, cervix, esophagus, larynx, lung, kidney, oral cavity, pancreas and pharynx.
The American Legacy Foundation® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The Foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org.
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, we have invested more than $1.2 billion to fulfill our promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world. For more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast cancer, visit http://www.komen.org/ or call 1-877 GO KOMEN.
###
Contact: Julia Cartwright, 202-454-5596, jcartwright@americanlegacy.org; Sean Tuffnell, 972-701-2111, stuffnell@komen.org