Unprecedented national media campaign will save lives and money
Editor
Mar 15, 2012
Meet Terrie. She starts her day by putting on a blonde wig and affixing a hands-free device to her tracheotomy hole to help her speak. Meet Brandon, who sits at the edge of his bed to ease on his artificial limbs. And Roosevelt – he’ll show you the deep scar that runs up and down his torso, the result of heart surgery.
These former smokers are the unlikely stars of the new nationwide media campaign aimed at encouraging smokers to quit and preventing children from starting to smoke. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled the ads at a Washington news conference.
Read the full blog post
posted March 15, 2012
Kick Butts Day Rally at Georgia State Capitol
Editor
Mar 12, 2012
With just nine days to go before Kick Butts Day, youth around the country are organizing high-impact events that highlight the dangers of tobacco use and show public officials how important it is to support policies that reduce tobacco use and saves lives. The fight against tobacco is as urgent as ever following a new U.S. Surgeon General’s report that found youth tobacco use is still a “pediatric epidemic.”
At the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, teens and health advocates will hold a rally to speak out about tobacco’s terrible toll on the state and the benefits of increasing the cigarette tax by $1. The “Bump it Up A Buck” Coalition is telling lawmakers the measure would reduce smoking, improve the health of all Georgians and generate more than $340 million in new revenue each year.
Read the full blog post
posted March 12, 2012
Tobacco industry spends over a million dollars an hour on marketing that hooks kids
Editor
Mar 8, 2012
Smoking among American youth is a “pediatric epidemic” that isn’t occurring by accident: It’s directly caused by tobacco industry marketing and promotion that entices teenagers to start smoking and encourages their progression to becoming regular smokers.
Read the full blog post
posted March 08, 2012
Big bucks will spread big lies about cigarette tax initiative
Editor
Mar 6, 2012
Big tobacco companies already have coughed up nearly $15 million to try to kill a California ballot initiative that would boost the state's cigarette tax by $1 to fund cancer research and tobacco-prevention programs.
"Shame on them," says Dr. Richard Gray, president of the American Heart Association Western States Affiliate. "But we aren’t surprised — they will always put their profits before the health of millions of Californians."
Read the full blog post
posted March 06, 2012
Novel products in fruit and candy flavors latest tactic to lure kids
Editor
Mar 1, 2012
Apple, grape, peach, strawberry, cherry, orange. "It's like Starbursts" says Roberta Hurtado, 17, of Orlando, Florida.
But the flavored products that have Florida communities up in arms aren't candy. They're tobacco products including little cigars, chewing tobacco and newer smokeless products shaped in pellets, sticks and other easily concealed forms. In addition to their sweet flavors, these products are often sold in brightly colored packages that are attractive to kids.
Read the full blog post
posted March 01, 2012
Tobacco company flouted law with magazine ads
Editor
Feb 28, 2012
The Marlboro Man has galloped into trouble in Pakistan.
A Pakistani judge has issued an arrest warrant for the head of marketing for Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd., for the company’s blatant violation of laws that tightly restrict tobacco advertisements. Despite the advertising limits, Philip Morris purchased – and magazines published – full-page, color ads for Marlboro cigarettes in many of Pakistan’s leading magazines throughout November and December.
Read the full blog post
posted February 28, 2012
Hundreds tell lawmakers to enact policies to protect kids and save lives
Editor
Feb 24, 2012
What does people power look like?
It looks like 900 middle and high school students thronging the state capitol in Charleston, West Virginia on Tobacco-Free Day to tell lawmakers to do more to reduce smoking and prevent kids from starting.
Read the full blog post
posted February 24, 2012
Kick Butts Day PSA contest winner shows how toxins in cigarettes stay in the body
Editor
Feb 22, 2012
Using black-and-white video and dark chocolate syrup to simulate the grim reality of smoking, three students at Suncoast Polytechnical High School in Sarasota, Florida, won the Grand Prize in this year’s Kick Butts Day PSA contest.
Read the full blog post
posted February 22, 2012
Lawmakers must choose: Protect kids or protect industry profits
Editor
Feb 17, 2012
From Idaho comes the latest evidence that the tobacco industry will go to great lengths — and spare no expense — to protect its profits and defeat measures proven to keep kids from smoking.
According to a report in the Idaho Falls Post Register, the Altria Group, the nation’s largest tobacco company and parent of Philip Morris USA, spent more money lobbying Idaho officials last year than any other group. Altria spent $165,076 lobbying in the state in 2011 — it’s the only group to spend more than $100,000, and its total is 82 percent more than the next biggest spender.
Read the full blog post
posted February 17, 2012
More than 700 Kick Butts Day events already registered – where’s yours?
Editor
Feb 16, 2012
With just five weeks to go before Kick Butts Day, March 21, more than 700 events around the country and on military bases overseas already are registered for a day of activism against Big Tobacco.
Have you registered your event?
Read the full blog post
posted February 16, 2012
Our Blog Posts
