Diversity instrumentalized: the tobacco industry's true intentions

In Switzerland, cigarette companies display an apparent commitment to LGBTIQ+ rights, through event funding, community partnerships, and internal diversity policies. But behind this inclusive facade lies a well-honed pinkwashing strategy, aimed at improving their image while continuing to promote products responsible for millions of deaths. analysis conducted by Transparency and Truth reveals the murky links between the tobacco industry, opportunistic communication and the targeting of a still vulnerable community[1].

An open posture built to serve commercial interests

In Switzerland, the tobacco industry is increasing its communications initiatives highlighting its support for the LGBTIQ+ community. This stated commitment takes various forms: funding pride marches, obtaining diversity labels, and participating in events promoting inclusion. These initiatives are part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, designed to improve their public image and regain societal legitimacy amid growing distrust of their activities.

Thus, in 2021, Philip Morris International (PMI) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) each donated CHF 10,000 to the organizers of Geneva Pride. This participation, interrupted in 2023 by the organizers themselves, who denounced an incompatibility between their values and the practices of tobacco multinationals, demonstrates how manufacturers seek to be part of highly publicized collective dynamics. Their financial contribution was accompanied by a visible presence in the event's communication materials, thus providing an opportunistic showcase for their image.

JTI is also a partner of the Swiss Diversity Forum and a major sponsor of the Swiss Diversity Awards, events that promote diversity and inclusion in business. Its logo is systematically featured prominently, particularly on the main stage, alongside institutional players and major companies. This staging is coupled with a more discreet but equally strategic involvement: some JTI executives participated in organizing these events without their affiliation with the tobacco industry being explicitly mentioned. This invisibility of the professional connection allows the company to gain credibility and confuse the issue of its true motivations.

Obtaining the Swiss LGBTI Label is another lever used by cigarette companies to legitimize their inclusive stance. JTI has obtained it twice, as has PMI. This label is issued based on a self-administered questionnaire and for a financial contribution, making it a tool accessible to companies with established financial and communication resources. Presented as a pledge of commitment to equality and inclusion, it is then widely highlighted in corporate communications, particularly during highly symbolic periods such as Pride Month or Coming Out Day. This communicational use distorts the initial objective of the label, transforming an evaluation tool into an instrument of commercial legitimization.

A well-honed pinkwashing strategy

The inclusion initiatives promoted by the tobacco industry are part of a particularly structured pinkwashing strategy. This term refers to a communication practice through which a company displays its support for the rights of LGBTIQ+ people in order to improve its image, while pursuing objectives unrelated to the cause—or even contrary to it. In the case of the tobacco industry, this instrumentalization is part of a broader strategy aimed at improving an image that has been seriously damaged by the health and environmental effects of its products. Historically, the tobacco industry has repeatedly been singled out for funding LGBTQI+ movements while funding homophobic politicians.[2].

Actions to support the LGBTIQ+ community are carefully orchestrated around symbolic moments, such as Pride Month in June or Coming Out Day in October. On these occasions, JTI and PMI's social media posts are accompanied by messages promoting authenticity, equality, and respect for diversity, supported by rainbow visuals or highlighted employee testimonials. These campaigns serve to position the company as socially responsible, while consolidating an internal recruitment and retention strategy for young audiences.

The words of tobacco industry executives clearly illustrate this logic. At JTI, diversity and inclusion are explicitly described as "business advantages." The Swiss LGBTI-Label website itself points out that certification can represent a lever for economic performance for companies. While such arguments may be legitimate in a traditional business setting, their exploitation by an industry responsible for one in two deaths among its regular consumers raises serious ethical issues.

The opportunistic nature of this strategy is particularly evident in its volatility. In the spring of 2025, under pressure from the Trump administration, major tobacco companies abruptly halted their public communications on the issue. PMI removed the pages dedicated to the Swiss LGBTI Label from its website, as well as its posts about Pride celebrations. JTI, the primary private funder of Trump's 2024 campaign, ceased all posts on X (formerly Twitter) related to inclusivity. These decisions, taken without explanation or justification, reveal the circumstantial and opportunistic nature of their commitment, driven above all by reputational imperatives and short-term profitability.

In short, the pinkwashing strategy deployed by the tobacco industry is based on a selective and calculated mobilization of the values of inclusion, the primary purpose of which is neither social justice nor the effective recognition of LGBTIQ+ rights, but rather the repositioning of an industry stigmatized in terms of health and the environment.

Smoking prevalence reinforced by historical targeting

Numerous international studies demonstrate that LGBTIQ+ people have higher smoking and vaping rates than the general population average. This finding, observed consistently across various countries, is the result of a dual phenomenon: historical marketing targeting by the tobacco industry and a psychosocial context marked by structural inequalities, particularly in mental health.

In the United States, Truth Initiative data shows that 38 to 59 percent of LGBTIQ+ youth reported using tobacco in the past month, compared to 28 to 35 percent of their heterosexual and cisgender peers.[3][4]In Switzerland, 49.9 % of bisexual women, 39 % of lesbian women and 41.8 % of bisexual men are smokers, compared to 25.4 % of heterosexual women and 33.5 % of heterosexual men. Trans people have a daily smoking rate of 37 %, well above the national average.

This overconsumption also stems from an intensive targeting strategy that began in the 1990s. At that time, tobacco companies invested in community media, sponsored LGBTIQ+ cultural events, and deployed messages based on individual freedom, self-affirmation, and challenging norms, seeking to associate themselves with countercultural values and identity pride. These approaches have permanently anchored tobacco in the festive and socializing spaces of sexual and gender minorities, contributing to the normalization of its use.

Furthermore, high tobacco consumption in this population is also correlated with the phenomenon of minority stress. This refers to the set of social, institutional, and interpersonal pressures experienced by minority individuals due to their sexual orientation or gender identity: family rejection, school bullying, violence, medical discrimination, precariousness, and marginalization. These accumulated experiences affect mental health and encourage the use of compensatory or self-medication strategies, including tobacco use.

In this context, cigarettes are often perceived as a stress management tool, a community cohesion ritual, or a manifestation of emancipation. This link between minority status, psychological suffering, and risky behaviors is well documented by public health researchers. It reminds us that the consumption observed is not a free or isolated choice, but is part of trajectories marked by social determinants of health and also commercial ones, with manufacturers targeting these populations.

Political alliances in flagrant contradiction

While the tobacco industry displays a commitment to LGBTIQ+ rights in its external communications, its political funding choices largely contradict this stance. In several countries, major tobacco manufacturers provide financial support to political parties or figures known for their hostile stances on equal rights and the fight against discrimination.

In the United States, in addition to JTI, Philip Morris is among the major contributors to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, whose administration has been known for regressive policies toward transgender people and the elimination of federal protections. This proximity raises questions, even as the company publicly presents itself as an ally of diversity.

In Switzerland, in 2023, PMI donated 35,000 Swiss francs to each of the two main right-wing parties, the Democratic Union of the Centre (UDC) and the Liberal Radical Party (PLR). While the latter supported some advances in LGBTIQ+ rights, the UDC systematically opposed several emblematic reforms: registered partnerships, the criminalization of homophobia, and same-sex marriage. The funding of this party, with its conservative and exclusionary positions, sheds a harsh light on the true strategic priorities of the tobacco companies.

This funding is not neutral. It aims to guarantee manufacturers a favorable regulatory environment in terms of taxation, advertising, and commercial freedoms. It reveals that the inclusive commitments displayed by tobacco manufacturers are not based on deeply held convictions, but rather on pragmatic opportunism intended to strengthen their influence and restore their image among certain target audiences.

Although Switzerland is not a signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Article 13 of the Convention recommends that States Parties prohibit all forms of advertising, promotion, or sponsorship of tobacco products, including philanthropy or corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, if they can serve the interests of the tobacco industry. In this context, the CSR initiatives promoted by tobacco companies are not neutral: they amount to disguised promotional strategies used to strengthen their image and circumvent bans. By investing in peripheral spaces—such as diversity labels, internal inclusion programs, or digital campaigns—the industry maintains a public presence, in contradiction with the spirit of the FCTC.

The example of the Swiss LGBTI Label illustrates this mechanism: presented as a tool for social progress, it is valued above all for its benefits in terms of image, HR attractiveness, and customer loyalty. Many companies use it as a performance indicator and not as a sincere commitment. In the case of the tobacco industry, this instrumentalization is all the more problematic because it diverts attention from the health effects of its products, highlighting actions with no real connection to public health.

The sudden removal of diversity pages from the PMI and JTI websites in 2025, following political pressure, demonstrates the conditional nature of these commitments. They are maintained as long as they serve the economic interests of companies, and abandoned as soon as they become a risk. This volatility confirms their lack of sincerity.

An opportunistic exploitation of LGBTQI+ visibility in France

In France, there is currently no recent, consolidated epidemiological data on the prevalence of smoking or nicotine product use among the LGBTQI+ community. The few studies available are old, but already suggested higher consumption than among the rest of the population.

Despite this lack of indicators, the tobacco industry's marketing strategies demonstrate a strong interest in the LGBTQI+ community, particularly during Pride Month in June. Manufacturers exploit this highly symbolic period to associate their image with values of diversity and inclusion, while promoting their products in a roundabout way.

In France, British American Tobacco (BAT), through its VELO brand (nicotine pouches), has implemented communication campaigns based on figures from the queer and drag scene. According to the CNCT's online advertising observatories and a survey by the Alliance Against Tobacco, Parisian drag queen Catherine Pine O'Noir, followed by several thousand people on Instagram, was mobilized as part of a promotional partnership during the Cannes Film Festival. This type of collaboration is part of a global micro-influence strategy, where personalities from specific communities are asked to relay content promoting the consumption of nicotine-based products, despite their ban in France.

Figure 1 - Report of influencers mobilized by the tobacco industry Alliance against tobacco

Behind seemingly festive and inclusive communication, these practices aim to normalize the use of nicotine pouches by associating them with creative, cultural, and identity-based worlds. They support the manufacturer in its strategy to impose its illicit products on the market and to anchor its products in valued social spheres. The instrumentalization of LGBTQI+ figures in this context does not reflect a sincere commitment to diversity, but once again a cynical commercial logic: associating addictive products with symbols of freedom and emancipation to attract new audiences, particularly younger ones, techniques already used several decades ago by manufacturers to promote cigarettes.

These strategies raise major public health and regulatory issues. By circumventing legal frameworks, the tobacco industry deliberately exposes already vulnerable communities to a range of products with high addictive potential. They thus contribute to the normalization of nicotine consumption and the construction of commercial legitimacy based on a facade of inclusion.

©Generation Without Tobacco

AE