So much has been happening in the last few months.
We have had lots of opportunities to speak and educate people within the community.
As a result many local sports teams have been interested in joining with Reality Check by signing NO Thanks You Big Tobacco Policies. We have the C lassie Lassies, South Troy Pop Warner Football, Maple Hill Youth Lacross, and The ValleyCats all joining in to take a stand against big tobacco. We could not be happier to be working with these teams!
We will be focusing on Point Of Purchase education within Rensselaer County. Tobacco signs in our local stores do have a harmful effects on the youth. We would like store owners to consider Reducing, Rearranging, or Removing the tobacco ads in and outside their stores.
DID YOU KNOW:
According to an article on the Association of Retail Tobacco Marketing with Adolescent Smoking. in the American Journal of Public health that THREE OUT OF FOUR TEENS VISIT A CONVENIENCE STORE AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK, AND ONE IN FOUR MAKE DAILY VISITS TO CONVENIENCE STORES.
This is important when considering that the tobacco industry needs replacement smokers to stay in business. If tobacco companies aren't suppose to be advertising to teens yet have been investing large sums of money into retail advertisement they are able to find a large youth audience.
In New York alone, the tobacco industry spends and estimated $516 million annually on marketing its products! (U.S. Federal Trade Commission (2005). Cigarette Report for 2003., 2005. Washington, D.C., Federal Trade Commission).
You may be thinking well sure! Its a capitalistic society, companies NEED to advertise BUT consider the facts when we are discussing the Tobacco Industry:
They understand how to make money, they invest large sums of money into researching the market.
If studies show:
Kids are more than twice as likely as adults to recall tobacco advertising two weeks latter according to a national telephone survey conducted by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
The average age at which smokers try their first cigarette is 14 1/2. ( Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People: A Report of the Surgeon General, US Dept. of Health and Human Services. 1994. )
Nearly 30% of youth ages 18-24 currently smoke New York State compared to the 18% of all adults. (RTI International. (2005). Independent Evaluation of
Tobacco ads, which often make smoking look cool or glamorous are created to appeal to teens. In addition, tobacco advertisements are often placed low, at child's eye levle, or next to candy or toys. (Feighery, E.C., Ribisi, K.M., Schleicher, N., Lee, R.E., & Halvorson, S. (2001). Cigarette advertising and Promotional Strategies in Retail Outlets: Results of a Statewide Survey in
If the tobacco industry Really wanted to protect youth and teens from smoking, wouldn't they evaluate the studies and shift their in store marketing?
Do they need all those colorful signs??? Can't they just announce their sales in black and white? Should their sales reps be encouraging certain types of ad placement?? In fact the box of cigarettes themselves are an in store advertising attempt. DO THEY NEED all that pink, purple, blue? IN FACT do they need all those flavored tobacco products?
Reality Check is not supporting a reduction of freedom of speech... We value our amendments and rights.
We are asking store owners to consider the evidence on their own, and make a decision about the type of ads they will allow in their stores.
We don't want the government regulating everything, what you can and can not do in all aspects of your life... but we do want the TRUTH behind what motivates the tobacco industry to behave the way it has in the past and how it currently markets cigarettes.
We feel we must educate the community! Its really the only way! The tobacco industry has everything to gain if we don't, and the young people who are constantly finding themselves in an environment that promotes smoking is setting up a foundational mindset that favors a company who has been found to be unethical in their business practices (just read about the 1998 settlement agreement and the tobacco documents).
Point blank, they are not regulated on a cigarette's ingredients (hundreds of chemicals can be found in 1 single cigarette). They sell a nicotine delivery system (meaning they sell a drug, nicotine, is what daily smokers want...they are a drug company) that is DANGEROUS! If you use their product as it is intended, it will harm you and if you continue to use that product it could kill you! How long did it take for them to even admit their product was dangerous, how many conflicting studies did they support to confuse the public and put the doubt in the minds of consumers to hold off on making changes to their business?? CAN THEY BE TRUSTED?
So please if you are in a store, take a look around, and see the situation from a child's or a young teen's eye.
Help us get the information out there to all the local retailers; Tobacco marketing is something we should all be watching and evaluating when it comes to the future of our kids.
The toll of tobacco is a health epidemic in this county...in this VERY State where 25,000 deaths per year make it the leading cause of preventable death! (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Tobacco Control Highlights, State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System [Online]. Retrieved March 1, 2006 from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/statestystem/. )
Our tax dollars go to pay a growing health bill from the use of tobacco. We shouldn't just let things remain as they are, not if we can educate and change the present situation.
Thanks!
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