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• Philip Morris targeted gays in 1990s, say documents 

In its push to find new smokers, tobacco giant Philip Morris targeted America's increasingly visible gay community as an enticing new market -- only to distance itself after negative publicity, according to once-secret industry documents examined by University of California-San Francisco researchers.

The researchers detail how, in the early 1990s, Philip Morris first began advertising Benson and Hedges cigarettes in gay-oriented publications as marketers touted the burgeoning community's brand loyalty and spending clout.

But as unfavorable news reports and some angry, conservative consumers questioned the cigarette maker's maintaining its macho ``Marlboro Man'' image, Philip Morris quickly emphasized that it was not targeting gays and downplayed its advertising in gay publications, saying that it was also advertising in Penthouse and Playboy.

The research article outlining the documents was released Wednesday and appears in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health. A related study focusing on a national AIDS advocacy group's 1990 boycott of Philip Morris also appears in the June issue of the journal Tobacco Control. . . .

ACT-UP intended to pressure both Philip Morris and Miller Brewing to withdraw support from U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, a leading opponent of gay civil rights and AIDS funding. But that effort died down, the researchers concluded, after Philip Morris co-opted key gay community leaders by agreeing to financially support HIV/AIDS advocacy groups.

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