KOOL
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KOOL is a brand of cigarettes that has marketed itself towards the "fashionable woman". As a menthol flavoured cigarette, the rough taste of tobacco is dulled as the menthol numbs the mouth allowing for a smoother inhalation.
Despite its heavy advertisement campaigns in magazines, the KOOL brand has been most popular with what would stereotypically be seen as "white trash" or "Hillbilly" people of the more rural areas far outside major cities. This is far from the image portrayed by KOOL advertisements.
The major competitor of KOOL is known to be Newport. Market statistics suggest that KOOL is less popular than its main rival, Newport which is in the top three favoured American brands.
Several racist groups condemn the use of Newports as by popular (although market analysis may prove otherwise) belief that they are popular with African Americans. Such dispute between smokers of the two brands has gone on for decades and has been noted in a few low distribution college and university newspaper articles. White supremacists are more recently boycotting menthol cigarettes entirely as studies suggest that African Americans prefer mentholated cigarettes.
A study into cigarette choice discovered the following: African-American teens with 61.3 % preferred Newport, 10.9% preferred Kool, and 9.7% preferred Salem. In comparison, 64% of White American teens preferred Marlboro.
Since the computer revolution and the lowering in cost of computers, messageboard use, specifically ones discussing cigarettes are common places where online (and often racially fueled) debate occures between the brand loyalists.
External Links
- Changes in the Cigarette Brand Preferences of Adolescent Smokers (http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00032326.htm)
- African Americans & Tobacco (http://kenyada.com/blacks_and_smoking.htm)