Special Report: As Baby Powder concerns mounted, J&J focused marketing on minority, overweight women

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pressure was mounting on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and it is signature Baby Powder.

In 2006, a leg around the globe Health Organization began classifying cosmetic talc which include Baby Powder as “possibly carcinogenic” when women used it as being a genital antiperspirant and deodorant, plenty of were being doing for decades. Talc supplier Luzenac America Inc started including that specifics of its shipments to J&J and other customers.

J&J, meanwhile, sought for methods of sell more Baby Powder to 2 key categories of longtime users: African-American and overweight women. The “right place” to target, depending on a 2006 internal J&J marketing presentation, was “under developed geographical areas with summer, and better AA population,” the “AA” talking about African-Americans.

“Powder continues to considered a relevant product among AA consumers,” the presentation said. “This happens to be an opportunity.”

In the examples below years, J&J turned those proposals into action, internal company documents show. It distributed Baby Powder samples through churches and wonder salons in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods, ran digital and print promotions with weight-loss and wellness company Dieters and launched a $300,000 radio advertising campaign in the half-dozen markets trying to reach “curvy Southern (NYSE:SO) women 18-49 skewing Dark-colored.”

These merely some of the most recent instances of J&J’s decades-long efforts to offset declining Baby Powder sales amid rising worry about the medical upshots of talc, based on a Reuters article on numerous J&J print, radio and digital advertising campaigns and thousands of pages of internal marketing documents and email correspondence.

Adults were the key users of Johnson’s Baby Powder since at the very least the 1970s, after pediatricians started warning in the danger to infants of inhaling talc. As adults became progressively more vital to business – making up 91 percent of Baby Powder use because of the mid-2000s – J&J honed its powder pitches to court numerous targeted markets, from teen-focused ads touting the product’s “fresh and natural” qualities, to promotions aimed at older minority and overweight women.

Today, ladies who fall into those categories form numerous the 13,000 plaintiffs alleging that J&J’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower, a powder brand the company sold this year, caused their ovarian cancer or mesothelioma.

Many in the ovarian cancer lawsuits have blamed the disease on perineal use of J&J cosmetic talcs – claims supported by some studies showing an association between such use and increased cancer risk. The latest cases have alleged that J&J’s talc products contained asbestos, long a known carcinogen.

In an exploration published Dec. 14 https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/johnsonandjohnson-cancer, Reuters stated that J&J knew for several years that little asbestos had occasionally been seen in its raw talc along with Baby Powder and Shower to Shower, dependant on test originates from the first 1970s on the early 2000s – information it did not disclose to regulators or perhaps the public.

J&J challenged the findings on the Reuters report, describing them as inaccurate and misleading.

BABY POWDER "EVERYWHERE"

Krystal Kim, a 53-year-old African-American, was one among 22 plaintiffs whose case in St. Louis lead to a jury verdict last summer of $4.69 billion against J&J. Kim said Baby Powder and Shower to Shower were household staples among her family and friends when she was getting bigger in Nj. Kim played baseball like a teenager, she said, and her mother shared with her to use Baby Powder to head off being “the stinky girl.”

“Every time I took a bath, I put Baby Powder on,” recalled Kim, whose ovarian cancer, first diagnosed in 2019, is in remission. “I put it on my panties, on my clothes, everywhere.”

J&J is appealing the St. Louis verdict. The corporation could not be affected by requests a great interview with Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky or some other executive to debate send out marketing of cosmetic powders.

In an emailed response to questions from Reuters, J&J said its Baby Powder remains and asbestos-free. It noted that your company’s marketing in recent times has been provided to many demographics and groups, understanding that “we’re proud pioneers with the practice of multicultural marketing.” You’ll find it noticed that some Baby Powder ads have featured the cornstarch version of Baby Powder, the security the fact that isn’t questioned.

Reports by Bloomberg News, the fresh York Times as well as Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, have cited some internal J&J documents revealing the business’s look at African-American and overweight women at specific times. Nevertheless the full timeline and scale with the marketing efforts, specifically those geared toward teenage girls, in minority communities and thru organizations which include Weight Watchers, are reported here for the first time.

Most businesses know which demographic profiles of those that buy their items and, in course, direct their marketing at those groups. Some – fast-food companies and soft-drink makers, including – have courted minority customers to increase sales among heavy users occasionally of skyrocketing public concern about the possible health outcomes of some.

In a case filed in Mississippi state court in 2019, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood alleges that J&J never warn consumers from the risks connected with its talc products and accuses the business of implementing a “racially targeted strategy” for selling Baby Powder after J&J became mindful of health concerns. The corporation focused its marketing on “minority communities likely you have to be gonna use the talc products,” Hood claims inside lawsuit.

J&J denied the allegations and last year filed a motion for summary judgment within the suit, arguing that this case involved matters of federal law, beyond the state’s purview. The court in December denied J&J’s motion, moving the firm has appealed. The truth is scheduled for trial later this season.

In its reply to Reuters’ questions, J&J said: “Suggesting that Johnson & Johnson targeted a selected group by using a potentially harmful device is incredibly offensive and patently false.”

“DEEP, PERSONAL TRUST"

Sold continuously since 1894, Johnson’s Baby Powder made up below One percent of J&J’s $81.6 billion in revenue during the past year, but it is deemed necessary to the business’s family-friendly image. An internal J&J marketing presentation from 1999 means baby products division, with Baby Powder fundamentally, as J&J’s “#1 Asset,” grounded in “deep, personal trust.”

Beginning inside 1950s, however, numerous case studies published in medical journals pointed on the dangers of getting talc. Pediatricians took notice. By the late 1950s, another ones were recommending cornstarch or oil to take care of diaper rash and chafing “because you cannot find any dangerous dust” in that person, depending on an indoor J&J report.

A report inside June 1966 edition with the American Journal of Diseases of youngsters, citing the deaths of three children who inhaled huge amounts of talcum powder, concluded there was “no justification” for utilizing this product on babies given it has “no medicinal value.”

Losing the connection to your product’s namesake – babies – left J&J wanting to cultivate other markets.

Beginning in the 1970s, J&J ran ads clearly intended to woo teenagers, in combination with its traditional marketing aimed towards families with babies. “You start being sexy if you stop trying,” was the queue from an ad that appeared in Seventeen magazine in 1972. The photo shows a new woman stroking a little daughter man’s curly blond hair.

“It’s an atmosphere due to outgrow,” the place an ad in Family Circle magazine in the mid-1980s put it, which has a photo of the bottle of Baby Powder at the side of a bear alongside the mirrored reflection of an young woman.

In 1989, advertising firm Young & Rubicam submitted a plan to J&J to “initiate an advanced of usage” among young ladies to “augment the weakening baby link.” Beneath plan, ads in mode magazines like Seventeen, YM, Glamour and Mademoiselle would endeavor to convince teen ladies who Johnson’s Baby Powder, “applied daily after showering, is an easy, feminine way to smell just like new daily.” Young & Rubicam, now named VMLY&R, declined to reply to the document and referred questions to J&J.

Baby Powder sales continued to fall through the entire 1980s and early 1990s. Since doctors had already recommended against using talc on infants, a 1986 internal report warned, a “last straw” safety concern could lead on people to abandon the goods altogether.

As early as 1992, the business keyed in over the sales potential with minority women. A J&J memo that year mentions “high usage” rates for Baby Powder of 52 percent among African-Americans and 37.6 percent among Hispanic customers – and notes that women of both ethnicities use the product much more than the population.

The memo suggests investigating “ethnic (African American/Hispanic) opportunities to grow the franchise,” while referring to “negative publicity through the health community on talc,” including “inhalation, dust, negative doctor endorsement, cancer linkage.” Portions of that memo were cited in reports from Bloomberg as well as New york city Times.

STAGNATING SALES

Those groups, in accordance with the presentation: African-Americans, nearly 60 % who used Baby Powder by now, compared to about Thirty percent with the overall population; overweight people; and fitness-conscious people trying to slim down.

It have also been in 2006 which the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the planet Health Organization, classified perineal using talc as “possibly carcinogenic,” saying available research provided “limited evidence” it caused cancer in humans. That came about Many years after IARC classified “talc containing asbestiform fibres” as “carcinogenic to humans,” its highest-risk classification.

After the IARC’s 2006 move, talc supplier Luzenac America started such as a note around the agency’s latest classification with a chemical safety document accompanying shipments to all customers, including J&J. With a heading that reads “carcinogenic status,” the document says IARC “has figured that perineal by using talc-based body powder is possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

In a deposition for example of the ovarian cancer cases tried in St. Louis, a Luzenac America executive, Shripal Sharma, said the business felt it was essential to add what he known as warning to the safety document. Asked whether Luzenac knew that J&J didn’t spread this warning, Sharma said: “It just isn’t our obligation to inform our customers how to deal with their items.”

In a statement to Reuters, Imerys Talc America Inc, as Luzenac is now known, said: “Talc’s safe use is proven by multiple regulatory and scientific bodies,” echoing J&J’s response.

Through an Imerys spokeswoman, Sharma declined to comment.

Two years right after the IARC classification, J&J sought proposals for the “African American agency” to develop marketing campaigns to the company’s baby products line. A 2008 document brought to prospective agencies summed up the truth: “Johnson’s Baby Oil and Baby Powder products, while traditionally used only on babies, are today primarily consumed by adult AA women for use on themselves.” One method to reverse the brand’s decline, it said, was by “speaking to AA consumers using a more relevant message with the most effective media vehicles.”

“ETHNIC CONSUMERS”

That year, this company contracted which includes a marketing firm, Segmented Marketing Services Inc, which says it focuses on targeted promotions to “ethnic consumers.” The firm would distribute 100,000 gift bags containing Baby Powder as well as other Johnson’s baby products in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods in Chicago, as outlined by binding agreement with J&J.

Run by African-Americans who was simply executives at Procter & Gamble Co and Quaker Oats, Segmented Marketing Services has said in past pr announcements and own marketing publications which it hands out an incredible number of free product samples and promotional offers through national networks in excess of 10,000 African-American and Hispanic churches, and hundreds and hundreds of “beauty salons, barber shops, entertainment venues and healthcare networks.”

The company published an advertorial in 2008 ready for distribution with Johnson’s baby products that the firm’s founders, Sandra Miller Jones and Lafayette Jones, said they “welcome” J&J as a partner.

“When caring rituals came from infancy continue through adulthood, ones self-confidence and in many cases faith on earth will often be strengthened,” the pamphlet said. “Whether in the fitness center, at your workplace, at church or by the beach, Johnson’s Baby Powder helps grown-ups feel more comfortable within their skin.” It was included with a coupon for $1 off Baby Powder.

Lafayette Jones and Sandra Miller Jones couldn’t be affected by calls, emails and LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) messages seeking comment.

J&J also launched campaigns to boost sales of Baby Powder to “curvy Southern women” and athletic adults who wants to smell fresh, according to company documents. It advertised in Dieters magazine and offered promotions from the Lane Bryant clothing chain for plus-size girls and Curves, a women’s fitness and weight-loss franchise. Marketing plans included as well ads to own in Southern Living magazine and during the design Network show “Ruby,” a Tv show that documented an obese Georgia woman using a search for shed pounds.

A 2009 presentation laying out the “Powder media plan” highlights that it’ll reach 31 million people “in the South (hot climates/overweight states),” and therefore “43% individuals plan will concentrate on the top 10 overweight states in the nation.”

A 2009 ad in Dieters magazine suggests readers “bust stress that has a midday workout” after which “stay fresh post-exercise by utilizing Johnson’s Baby Powder.”

Internal J&J marketing emails before the Dieters campaign ran discuss perhaps the women featured tend to be heavy enough to resonate while using the intended audience. “Can nicely ask WW should they have any images of slightly bigger women? They just don’t really need to be super curvy, but slightly larger than the latest image would be preferable,” wrote Grace Lee, a J&J brand manager, to other people within the company and ad agency Lowe New york city.

Weight Watchers, now known officially as WW International Inc, declined to investigate the campaign. Lee & Interpublic Band of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG), which owns ad units Lowe Big apple, didn’t be affected by requests for comment.

SUMMER SUCCESS

The Weight Watchers campaign was successful, according to a 2009 internal J&J recap, which established that sales of Baby Powder at Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) increased around 9 % while in the summer time as soon as the ads ran from the same months last year, reversing a decline.

J&J’s overall Baby Powder media advertising budget increased with a proposed $495,000 in 2010, up 71 percent from $288,000 last season, driven by more dedicated spending toward promotions for overweight women.

The company 2010 launched an invisible campaign from the South targeting “Curvy Southern Women 18