Students see anti-tobacco ads
A new state ad campaign to prevent tobacco use among youths got an early review by West Valley City School students.
The reaction: laughs and grossed-out groans in all the right places.
State health representatives were at the school recently as the students viewed the new anti-tobacco commercials and Web-cast videos. Before creating the campaign, state leaders heard input from youth who wanted anti-smoking commercials with humor and somewhat disgusting depictions of cigarettes’ side effects.
The campaign also includes the new slogan “No Stank You,” which was on blue T-shirts thrown out to City School students during a question-and-answer session. Washington state Secretary of Health Mary Selecky gave the T-shirts to audience members with the help of the school’s student group, Teens Against Tobacco Use.
“Why am I here today to talk about tobacco?” Selecky asked, to which a student answered, “To show kids in the future not to smoke and die.”
She asked a series of questions: How many chemicals in a cigarette (4,000), what are some of those chemicals (arsenic for one), how many kids will start smoking today in Washington state (45 a day).
“And that’s too many,” Selecky said. She explained that the first anti-tobacco commercial in the state was borrowed from California, showing Debbie, who had throat cancer and was so addicted that she continued to smoke through a tracheotomy hole in her throat.
“With Debbie, we got your attention,” Selecky said. “Then we decided we would ask young people like you, what do you want us to show you?”
Newer commercials include one with a girl in a model-like pose, until she smiles. All the teeth are half-smoked cigarettes. Another has cartoon characters called “Smoke Buddies” with unappealing features – wrinkled face, bad breath and empty pockets.
And the “Sniff-a-Date” commercial has a blindfolded contestant selecting an elderly grandma character over a cigarette-scented beauty.
City School students even got a local version of the campaign’s Yellow Tooth Fairy, who messes up mouths and turns teeth yellow. History teacher John Adams donned the smoke-stained costume and played the character as Selecky asked him questions.
Selecky said the advertising campaign is geared toward those ages 12 to 14, the most common ages when youth start smoking. Many of the ads started running in September on such channels as Cartoon Network and Disney.
Selecky also praised the City School’s TATU group, which started visiting elementary schools with an anti-tobacco message last year.
“When a seventh-grader can do that with a third-grader, it makes a bigger impact,” Selecky said. “We have to get the kids engaged. We want them to never start smoking.”