tobacco

Editor's note: This piece was originally published on March 5, 2019. 

When you’re in your local corner store or gas station, it may not cross your mind that companies are using tactics to push certain products to specific customers. In Milwaukee County, there's evidence that tobacco products are targeted toward low-income communities and neighborhoods of color.

The Surgeon General of the United States first started warning Americans about the dangers of tobacco products in 1964. Five decades later, the effort to combat tobacco use now includes significant taxes on cigarettes, restrictions on advertising and diminishing spaces where it’s still legal to smoke in public.