ABQ alt-weekly publishes controversial tobacco ad in Black History Month issue

On Feb. 18, Albuquerque’s newly minted alt-weekly The Paper published a “Being Black in NM'' special issue for Black History Month. The issue was intended to be a space to highlight Black voices, but featured a full-page advertisement from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

“This week, we asked our regular journalists and contributors to take a step back and give their space to Black writers, organizers and businesses to share their perspective on being Black in New Mexico,” the introduction to the special edition said.

However, the issue featured a full page ad for R.J. Reynold’s Lucky Cigarettes, which has a legacy of being sued for participating in mass genocide because of the company’s historic involvement with the slave trade.

The lawsuit said the company and its subsidiaries “were unjustly enriched through the profits they earned either directly or indirectly from the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery.”

Tierna Unruh-Enos, the managing editor of The Paper, said the alt-weekly hadn’t considered that element of the company before publishing their advertisement in the special issue.

“No, you know, I mean, I hadn't thought of that,” Unruh-Enos said.

Brandale Mills Cox, a multicultural market researcher and founder of the Bernalillo-based Inclusive Market Research Group, spoke to the Daily Lobo about how, in light of uprisings for social and racial justice over the summer, it’s important to hold everyone accountable.