Despite purported baby powder dangers that include causing ovarian cancer and mesothelioma—cancer brought on by asbestos exposure—the Johnson & Johnson Co. may have purposely directed its marketing of these products to minorities, pushing their once popular talcum powder product to African-American and Hispanic women, as well as overweight women in all groups.

According to an April 9, 2019 article posted on Reuters.com, 2006 was a pivotal year for the ‘family’ image of the cosmetic and drug giant. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), started to take aim at cosmetic talc by saying that lurking baby powder dangers may include ovarian cancer.

The possible carcinogenic effects of cosmetic talc, as indicated by IARC, were linked to daily application of baby powder to the female genital region. This was a habit which Johnson & Johnson had purportedly encouraged through advertising campaigns for years.

When this classification was made, according to a separate April 9 article posted on NJ.com, the company’s talc supplier made the move to add this information with then and future talc supply shipments to Johnson & Johnson.

It was around this same time that a new advertising campaign sought to focus on geographical regions that were more economically underdeveloped with higher minority populations, according to internal documents from 2006. Special emphasis was reportedly given on areas with these characteristics that were also known to have hot and humid weather patterns such as the southeastern U.S.

Johnson & Johnson purportedly told Reuters investigators that target marketing baby powder to members of various demographics is not unheard of in any large business. They had had a long history of focusing on many different groups over time and that they are very proud of their “multicultural marketing” efforts.

A Timeline of Concerns over Baby Powder Dangers

As indicated by an April 10 Insurance Journal article, concerns over potential baby powder dangers posed by infants inhaling talc was first posed in the early 1970s. This made Johnson & Johnson’s mainstay product more attractive for adult rather than child use.

At this time, the pharmaceutical and household toiletry giant’s internal documents reveal the knowledge that their talc products were known to have trace concentrations of asbestos in them—a known carcinogenic mineral often found near deposits of talc in the earth. The risk of asbestos in baby powder was reportedly not revealed to the public.

With a growing adult consumer base which grew to its height in the mid-2000s of 91 percent, Johnson & Johnson had focused its advertising on teenage girls by exclaiming its fresh and natural qualities and then switched to a more older focus of overweight, largely minority women. Advertising focused on baby powder use for hygiene.

According to the article, women of this demographic make up the lion share of 13,000 plaintiffs suing the company for allegedly causing their ovarian cancer or mesothelioma. Twenty-two baby powder cancer lawsuits of those 13,000 went to trial last summer and won a compensatory award of $4.6 billion against Johnson & Johnson.

The alleged target marketing of baby powder to African-American and Hispanic overweight women was run through the distribution of free samples through churches, beauty salons, and Weight Watchers. It was also underscored with a massive release of radio spots, and other digital and print media efforts.