Are big bad tobacco companies at the forefront of multicultural marketing? A new study that claims the industry has been targeting Asian Americans seems to show just that.

A team of U.S. and Canadian researchers waded through 500,000 pages of internal tobacco industry documents - made publicly available as a result of U.S. court cases - to investigate promotion strategies aimed at Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Their findings in this month's 'Tobacco Control', published by the British Medical Journal, add to recent revelations that the industry actively courts other minority groups including African-American and gay and lesbian communities.

The core features of tobacco company strategies included emphasis on ''Asian-owned stores, direct marketing of specific cigarette brands through community cultural events, youth orientated promotions, and corporate sponsorship,'' according to the study.

Driving the interest of the tobacco industry was rapid growth of Asian and Pacific Islander populations in the United States. These populations are also concentrated in select cities and states, making them easier to target through advertisements.

A document that the market research company Loiminchay prepared for the Lorillard Tobacco Co in 1990 stated that ''other tobacco companies are aware that this community which is (generally) predisposed toward smoking, is a potential gold mine''.

The tobacco companies were also aware that Asian Americans were heavily represented amongst convenience store owners, reaching up to 80 percent of those in New York City and a thousand stories in southern California.

In 1993, a special team from RJ Reynolds met with the New York and Southern California chapters of Korean-American Grocers Association (KAGRO).

It agreed to sponsor a KAGRO seminar at a cost of $10,000 as it ''would give us the opportunity to address the membership regarding the negative impact of an increase in the FET (federal excise tax)''.

It proved to be a worthwhile investment, with all KAGRO chapters agreeing in May 1994 to collect petition signatures from customers opposing tax increases.

RJ Reynolds also sponsored groups such as the National Association of Asian American Journalists and the Organization of Chinese Americans. Phillip Morris, the world's biggest tobacco company, sponsored events such as the Nisei Week Japanese Festival in Los Angeles.