■>
novamber 1¡L 2002 •
7
rTìTi7rW3T3neu;sbrie/s
L ung C ancer I s H ip
he researcher who discovered a secret tac
tic to hook queers on nicotine visited Port
land on Nov. 6 to speak about slick cigarette
marketing techniques aimed at the sexual
minorities community.
Anne Landman found out about Project
SCUM , which stands for “subculture urban
marketing,” in early 2001 when tobacco compa
nies were forced to publicly disclose their docu
ments on Web sites as part of a lawsuit
settlement. R.J. Reynolds concocted the strate
gy to increase cigarette sales among subculture
groups such as queers, homeless people and
Generation Xers.
Landman was accustomed to shocking indus
try documents, hut when she read about Project
SCU M , she literally jumped out of her chair.
"This was outrageous!”
Some of the documents had whimsical, cute
graphics. “If you’ve looked through a lot of doc
uments, you don’t see a lot of this sort of thing.
Someone was enjoying themselves when they
put this together.”
R.J. Reynolds saw self-destructive behavior
as a golden opportunity for marketing ciga
rettes. “They are marketing to this community
for one reason— and the documents say this—
there is a high incidence of smoking and drugs
in this subculture.”
Project SCUM is part of a much larger market
ing phenomenon targeting subculture groups, Land-
man said. And the center of queer culture— the bar
scene— is an important marketing opportunity.
“The queer community has a higher smoking
rate and frequenting of nightclubs, and that’s
where the tobacco companies are right now,”
Landman said. “It’s called trend influence mar
T
keting. Tins generation isn’t as interested in sign
advertising, but it’s hip to trends.”
Tobacco companies pay young people to
wear nice clothes with the cigarette logo, visit
nightclubs and hand out free cigarettes. They
also sponsor events at bars; the recent Arabian
Nights at the Egyptian Club is an example.
Prevention measures also are failing because
the tobacco industry subverts them for their own
marketing strategies, Landman said. She cited
examples of tobacco companies creating partner
ships with the 4-H Club and the Jaycees for pro
grams to help children resist smoking.
“But at the same time they are trying to scope
out kids for marketing purposes,” she said. “By
pairing up with the Jaycees and other groups,
they gain respectability; lawmakers see they are
trying to reduce kids’ smoking so vote their way.”
W hat can be done? “Knowledge is power,”
Landman said. “People don’t like being manipu
lated; maybe when they see they’re being
manipulated they’ll wake up.”
E ugene C hickens O ut
H P he Eugene City Council dropped trans peo-
X. pie from the human rights code revisions it
approved Nov. 12.
Mayor Jim Torrey had threatened to veto the
changes, citing privacy and cost concerns regarding
a guarantee of “reasonable accommodations” in
buildings open to the public and access to gender-
specific restrooms, dressing rooms and showers.
According to the Register-Guard, Bible bangers
outnumbered progressives in the audience.
“This is one nation under God, and God
hates homosexuality,” Ken Biersteker of Veneta
testified during the meeting. “I don’t want any
one to go to hell, and God don’t want anyone to
Barbara A.
Peterson
A Comparison
of Views.
Jim
Moeller
Lifestyle
Single mother, three children; family
oriented. An attorney in pnvate practice
Openly homosexual active male and
council member.
Political
Leaning
Compassionate conservative Believes
in the free-enterprise system - and that
smalier government is better
Ultra-liberal. Believes government has
the answers to our problems. A
bureaucrat.
Passions
Families, environment, children Caring
for the elderty Fights against abortion,
assisted-sucicide ¡¿nc pornography
•
Wants fo mahedrug laws tougtier
Homosexual activist He says he’s for
“working families" but works to defend
..“Hand5 t5#W ashiw|ton * Wants to
legalize manjuana.
Recognizes a solid education is criticai
go to hell. But when you approve of this non
sense, you’re sending a lot of people to hell.”
The good news is that Eugene passed a
domestic partnership registry. It is the third Ore
gon jurisdiction to make the largely symbolic
gesture, following Ashland in 1999 and Mult
nomah County in 2000.
The amendment package also allows people
to bring private lawsuits if they are discriminat
ed against, creates a team of volunteers to help
resolve incidents of harassment and adds eth
nicity to the list of protected classes. Councilors
promised to revisit the trans issues soon.
»
R ace G ets U gly
J oters picked gay Vancouver City Coun
cilor Jim Moeller for the Washington
House on Nov. 5, but victory didn’t come easy.
The Democrat’s opponent, Republican
\
attorney Barbara Peterson, sent out a mailer less
than a week before Election Day comparing the
two candidates’ views. O f course, she couldn’t
resist playing the sex card.
“I have been a little too kind about it this
whole campaign,” Peterson told the Columbian.
“We believe in informed consent in medical and
legal circles. Why not in political circles?”
Under “Lifestyles,” Peterson described her
self as a “family oriented” single mother of three.
Moeller, meanwhile, was an “openly homosexu
al active male.”
Peterson’s “Passions” were “families, envi
ronment, children” and fighting against pornog
raphy. Moeller was a “homosexual activist” who
“wants to legalize marijuana.”
“1 had hoped for better, but it looks like she
finally showed her true colors,” Moeller said.
Continued on Page 8
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