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Connecticut’s Department of Public Health wants a PR firm to develop a campaign to reduce cigarette smoking in the LGBTQ+ community.
LGBTQ+ people have a higher rate of smoking than heterosexuals. A quarter of LGBTQ+ adults smoke vs. 16 percent of adults who identify as straight.
Nearly one-in-ten (9.2 percent) of Connecticut LGBTQ+ high school students use tobacco vs. 2.3 percent of heterosexuals, according to the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
“Factors driving LGBTQ+ disparities in tobacco use include but are not limited to: stress due to social stigma and discrimination, peer pressure, aggressive marketing by the tobacco industry, and limited access to effective tobacco treatment,” according to the RFP.
The Department of Public Health wants a campaign that makes the LGBTQ+ population aware that cigarette companies are targeting them to induce tobacco use and educate them about smoking cessation programs available in The Nutmeg State.
The PR firm will educate the targeted audience about “myths and misleading information that portrays tobacco use as common, normative, and a positive behavior.”
That effort will “include information about the immediate and long-term physical, social and financial consequences of tobacco use; what is in tobacco products; actual statistics and social norms of tobacco use.”
It will encourage LGBTQ+ people “to adopt tobacco free living policies in various areas including homes and events.”
Connecticut has budgeted $100K annually for the anti-smoking push that will begin July 1 and run through April 28, 2025.
Proposals are due Jan. 27. Interested firms are required to register at https://portal.ct.gov/DAS/CTSource/Registration.
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