Johnson & Johnson Accused of “targeting Black and Brown communities with toxic products”
- National Women's Health Network says “J&J must address its own racist practices”
- Internal marketing documents show J&J targeted, “curvy Southern women 18-49 skewing African American”
- 170 nonprofit groups from 51 countries call for the end of talc sales world-wide
Advocates for black women’s health are calling out Johnson & Johnson for failing to “walk the talk” when it comes to the company’s professed stand for racial justice. At issue is Johnson & Johnson’s decision to withdraw Johnson’s Baby Powder from North American markets while continuing to sell the talcum powder in third-world countries.
J&J’s decision in May to pull its talcum powder out of the U.S. and Canadian markets followed a $4.7 billion jury verdict in Missouri against the company over claims that its talcum powder causes ovarian cancer. The company said it would continue to sell the talcum powder in other parts of the world.
Black Women for Wellness, a health advocacy group, called the decision to continue international sales an assault on black and brown women in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They referenced a statement supporting racial equality issued by Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky in June at the height of the U.S. Black Lives Matter protests.
“If ‘racism in any form is unacceptable’ and ‘Black lives matter,’ as its CEO Alex Gorsky states, then J&J must address its own racist practices,” M. Isabelle Chaudry, Esq, senior policy manager, National Women's Health Network, said in the Black Women for Wellness press release.
More than 170 nonprofit groups from 51 countries in July joined Black Women for Wellness in calling for Johnson & Johnson to stop selling its talc-based powder world-wide.
“Now is the time for Johnson & Johnson to demonstrate its commitment to health equity beyond public statements. This means stopping the targeting Black and Brown communities with toxic products,” Monica Unseld, Ph. D, MPH, founder of Data for Justice, said in the press release.
Anger over J&J’s plans was further stoked by reports in national media that the company earlier had targeted its baby powder marketing to black and brown communities in the U.S. and overweight women in the South after overall sales began to drop off.
“The ‘right place’ to focus, according to a 2006 internal J&J marketing presentation, was ‘under developed geographical areas with hot weather, and higher AA population,’ the ‘AA’ referring to African-Americans,” according to a report by Reuters.
To implement the strategy, the company gave away samples of baby powder “through churches and beauty salons in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods, ran digital and print promotions with weight-loss and wellness company Weight Watchers and launched a $300,000 radio advertising campaign in a half-dozen markets aiming to reach ‘curvy Southern women 18-49 skewing African American,’” according to the Reuters investigation.
In a statement issued to Reuters, the company said, “Suggesting that Johnson & Johnson targeted a particular group with a potentially harmful product is incredibly offensive and patently false.”
But Janette Robinson Flint, Executive Director of Black Women for Wellness disagrees:
Africa plays a big role in J&J’s future growth plans. In 2016, the company announced the launch of a new global public health strategy and the opening of operations in Cape Town, South Africa. J&J’s operations on the continent were the subject of protests even before the recent talc controversy.
Doctors Without Borders began staging protests against J&J in October 2019 over what it considered overcharging for Bedaquiline, a game-changer treatment for people with drug-resistant tuberculosis. The medical organization, which calls itself the largest nongovernmental provider of TB treatment worldwide, reported that J&J priced Bedaquiline beyond the ability of most patients in poorer countries to pay. Although the drug came on the market in 2012, only a small fraction of the people who needed the drug were able to get it.
“Bedaquiline was developed with considerable taxpayer, non-profit and philanthropic support. Much of the critical work to inform the use of the drug and demonstrate its therapeutic value was conducted by the TB research community, health ministries, and treatment providers including MSF, and was financed by taxpayers and other donors,” according to an article posted Jan. 20, 2020 on the website of doctorswithoutborders.org.
The doctors staged months of public protests in front of Johnson & Johnson offices around the world, at the J&J shareholders meeting and at the New York Stock Exchange. Finally in July, with the Covid pandemic in full swing, the company dropped the price.
Resources referenced in this article:
Johnson & Johnson to End Talc-Based Baby Powder Sales in North America
Johnson & Johnson Press Release, July 6th 2020
Nonprofits urge Johnson & Johnson to halt sales of Baby Powder globally
Pressure mounts on Johnson & Johnson to halt global talc sales
Special Report: As Baby Powder concerns mounted, J&J focused marketing on minority, overweight women
