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In a bold strategic move, CVS Health, the second-largest
pharmacy chain in the United States behind Walgreens,
decided to discontinue the sale of tobacco products.
A
credible argument can be made that the move, like nearly all
business strategies, was a public relations tactic, strictly
motivated by potential revenues and profit growth.
Certainly, the decision to end tobacco sales will
differentiate CVS from such rivals as Walgreens, Rite Aid,
Kroger, Wal-Mart and others in a competitive retail
prescription drug market. The mega retailer, with one Toledo
location at 4121 Monroe, also plans to provide physicals,
wellness exams and other healthcare services in order to
take advantage of new opportunities made available by the
Affordable Care Act, industry insiders revealed in a
National Public Radio interview. A primary care doctor
shortage, Medicaid insurance expansion to the poor, and the
addition of previously uninsured citizens are expected to
create millions of potential new customers for CVS.
While removing cigarettes from store shelves provides an
opportunity for financial growth and repositions the
retailer as a public health entity, a case can also be made
that CVS’ tobacco-elimination policy recasts its corporate
image as a people-centered enterprise that is as focused on
community well-being as it is on profit making. This image
appears to be in stark contrast to Kroger’s open gun carry
policy in its stores and Wal-Mart’s reputation for
destroying two jobs in the community for each job they
create.
The tobacco industry has made huge investments to
aggressively target low income and communities of color,
resulting in devastating impact for these communities.
Smoking significantly increases the risk for cerebrovascular
disease or stroke, a disease with rates that are double for
black men and women than for their white counterparts.
Smoking is also a known cause of cancer of the lung, larynx,
oral cavity, liver, colon, esophagus, bladder, stomach and
other areas, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports.
Lower-income people also disproportionately suffer harmful
consequences of secondhand smoke exposure and have limited
access to health care, causing late-stage diagnoses, which
lead to poorer mortality outcomes.
According to the 2011 Lucas County Health Assessment, 24
percent of the county’s residents are smokers, but 41
percent of adult smokers are those earning less than $25,000
in annual income.
Yet, despite black financial wealth disparities and our
propensity to examine community issues from a deficit model,
the black community is rich in nonfinancial assets, termed
invisible capital, by Princeton University’s Chris Rabb.
How do we invest our community assets in ways that are most
meaningful?
The CVS policy, which removes the poisons targeted mostly at
the poor and people of color, other motives notwithstanding,
is to be applauded because it provides a template for
deciding where to invest community assets such as our
collective buying power and nonfinancial wealth such as
electoral or institutional support; social, cultural and
human capital, as well as our ability to use social media to
effect change.
Often, we provide blind support to the myriad businesses and
institutions that derive benefit or continued existence
solely from our status as minorities or low to middle income
persons. However, we seldom look at the social impact of
those who are taking our money or support and do so while
taking it for granted.
The first question we should ask, or rather demand of the
places where we spend our money, is “How does this impact
the community in which we live and raise our children? Who
works here? What are the outcomes for our community?”
Outcomes must also be demanded of politicians, including
black politicians and businesses because blackness alone is
not enough. We must support black excellence wherever it
appears.
Finally, we should support those who contribute to the
health and well being of all of us, particularly the “least
of these” and invest in those organizations that help to
achieve long-term social impact while providing the things
that matter to us as a diverse community possessing a shared
history.
We all have a voice; a stake and the collective capacity.
Most importantly, we all have an obligation to ask, “How is
this going to impact our community beyond just the name on
the sign and those who receive the revenues or support.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org |
