WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — She wants Glamour to stub out the cigs.
A local health activist has launched a petition asking the popular women's magazine to stop advertising cigarettes while the glossy touts articles about quitting smoking.
Glamour subscriber Catarina Rivera 29, started the petition last month after noticing ads for cigarettes alongside articles about topics such as breast cancer.
“I was just so angry,” said Rivera, former health coordinator for the Harlem Children's Zone and founder of the nonprofit obesity-fighting organization Healthy Kids in the Heights. “I couldn’t believe there was a cigarette ad in the magazine.”
For instance, the mag — which boasts a total circulation of 2,318,521 — did a feature earlier this year about how to quit smoking.
"Confusing, isn’t it?" Rivera wrote in the petition, which has more than 1,000 signatures after going live late last month. "But that’s the message Glamour Magazine sends when it puts articles about the ills of smoking — how it damages our skin, speeds up aging, and causes numerous health problems including cancer — in the same issue with advertisements showing us just how 'glamourous' smoking can be."
These typs of pieces, as well as features on topics like breast cancer and the magazine's "Woman of the Year" selection, are what made her a fan of Glamour for several years now.
“They have good content,” she said.
When Rivera did some research, she said she found several tweets dating back to 2012 of people chastising the publication for the conflicting content.
@glamourmag STOP RUNNING CIGARETTE ADS! Smoking is not EVER fashionable!!! pic.twitter.com/QcDNEDsFr0
— Kittay Catt (@cattyfresh2115) May 20, 2014Come on @glamourmag ,when are you gonna lose the cigarette ads?I know they pay big $$ but u guys are better than that pic.twitter.com/r34vHqJ3ax
— Erin Broderick (@ErinBT13) September 21, 2015@glamourmag, what's with the cigarette ads? All seems a bit contradictory to me pic.twitter.com/in2uGoWEaZ
— Taylor Yurchuck (@tayyurch) January 19, 2014Rivera reached out to several of the posters, retweeting their messages and encouraging them to join her fight.
"All these people didn't get a reply back," she said, "and it's not right."
However, Rivera did receive a response from Glamour's editor-in-chief, Cindy Leive.
@CatarinaRivera thanks for your tweets--all noted. We hear you, and your feedback (on this & all topics) matters.
— Cindi Leive (@cindi_leive) October 20, 2015Since Leive's tweet, Rivera hasn't heard anything further from the magazine or its publisher, Condé Nast. However, she's hoping the magazine will soon make an announcement declaring their publication tobacco-free.
Until then, "I'm not going to renew my subscription," she said, "and I'm going to stop everyone I know."
Glamour did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
