Companies shifted more promotions to retail locations like gas stations and convenience stores, which researchers have shown are heavily concentrated in Black neighborhoods About a third of all cigarettes sold in the U.S
They began to run commercials in the 1960s with Black athletes, particularly Elston Howard of the New York Yankees, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, all selling these products, said Gardiner, who wrote the most comprehensive study on the tobacco industrys advertising efforts in Black communities
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) endorsed the FDA's ban, saying "the tobacco industry has been targeting African Americans," thereby contributing to "the skyrocketing rates of heart disease, stroke and cancer across our community." But the ACLU letter attracted support from several African-American groups, including the National Black Justice Coalition, the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, and the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers
In just one year alone, 1954, it is estimated that about 550,000 packs of Kent Micronite cigarettes were sold each day
Newport sales accounted for 12.2 percent of the total U.S