Grants from Robert Wood Johnson are helping support campaigns to fight smoking among Hispanics, Native Americans, Blacks, and others.
Decades ago, smoking crossed the boundaries of class and race. Hollywood celebrities, corporate executives, and factory workers all smoked. Camel famously ran magazine ads saying: “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.”
Today, few doctors, lawyers, corporate executives, or, for that matter, program officers at big foundations smoke cigarettes. But while smoking has practically vanished among well-educated, well-to-do coastal elites, nearly 40 million U.S. adults, many of them low-income and less-educated, continue to smoke cigarettes.
For the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health and a longtime supporter of anti-smoking campaigns, tobacco has become a social-justice issue.
Marc Gunther – The Chronicle of Philanthropy – 2021-03-23.