Marketing

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention, and Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education warn that the tobacco industry is increasingly targeting Latino children.

As "part of a cultural shift that increasingly sees health problems as lifestyles rather than diseases," food marketers are targeting the chronically ill "as the new much-reach demographic." Groceries have "heart healthy" sections because there are more than 70 million U.S. residents with heart problems, representing "$71 billion in annual buying power." The nation's 21 million diabetics "command about $14 billion" and "about two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese," writes the Associated Press.

"Time heals a lot of marketing wounds," said the director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute. In June 2003, basketball star Kobe Bryant signed a four-year, $45 million endorsement deal with shoe company Nike. Weeks later, Bryant was accused of sexual assault. Now that the criminal case has been dismissed and a related civil lawsuit settled, "Nike and Mr.

Mars Inc., the candy company that makes Snickers bars, M&Ms and Dove chocolates, used to spend $1 million per year subsidizing a newsletter which claimed that eating chocolate could prevent cavities. Now it is funding research that says chocolate is good for your heart.