Tobacco & YouthMedia Awareness

Developed By:Karla LoderHealth Promotion & Education Consultant

What is Media Awareness?

• Media awareness is actively thinking about the methods a group or person can/will use to get power and control.• Print – newspapers, magazines, photos• Electronic – radio, television, *movies• Social Media or New Age – websites,

cell phones, social media

How Harmful is Tobacco?

• Smoking causes preventable illnesses

• Adults don’t start smoking…kids do

• Linked to HD, Cancers, etc.

• Over 45,000 Canadians

• 3.5 million worldwide

• A pack of cigarettes/per day for one year = 1 quart of tar in the lungs

Cigarette Ingredients

• Tar – 400 carcinogenic compounds• Nicotine – Addictive, poisonous • Cyanide – Gas used for executions • Carbon Monoxide – car exhaust• Formaldehyde – Preserving Fluid• Hexamine – Barbecue Lighter• Ammonia – Toilet Cleaner• Cadmium - Batteries

A Closer Look…

Just One Cigarette …• Heartbeat speeds up• Leaves chemicals in the lungs• Increases blood pressure

• Cuts down blood & oxygen flow• Body temperature drops • Slows you down

What is Second-Hand Smoke?

• Exhaled mainstream smoke from a smoker

• Side-stream smoke emitted from the burning end of a cigarette

• Contaminants released by the smoker into the air during a puff

• One puff releases contaminants• Breathe in over 35 chemicals that

are known to lead to cancer

Second Hand Smoke Exposed

• Also called Environmental Tobacco Smoke

• Affects 2.4 million Canadian homes• Children - 12 report regular exposure to

second-hand smoke• An estimated 4000 deaths occur each

year in Canada• Non-smokers exposed to smoke – levels

of nicotine in blood 40 hours later

The Tobacco Industry

• Masters of Manipulation• They need about 450 new smokers per day to replace

those who have quit or died• You are considered “replacement smokers”• This year, nearly 5000 children in NL will try their first

cigarette

Big Tobacco – 9 D’s• Deny the health consequences of smoking. • Deceive consumers about the true nature of

cigarettes through marketing and PR. • Damage the credibility of industry opponents. • Direct advertising to women and youth, in

addition to men, to maximize sales volume. • Defeat attempts to regulate the industry or

control smoking. • Delay legislation if it can’t be defeated. • Destroy legislation once it passes, either by

trying to overturn the law in court, by disobeying the law, or by exploiting loopholes.

• Defend lawsuits filed against the industry. • Develop new markets

Smoking is a Youth Issue?

• $260+/yr. million from youth dollars• 90% of those who start smoking…children or

teenagers• 1st smoking experience – established smoker• Second-hand smoke kills 600,000 people per

year world-wide

Smoking is a Youth Issue(2)

• Smoking is expensive!• Teens smoke > a billion cigarettes

a year = $400 million/year• Smoker’s inhale approx. 1 mg of

nicotine per cigarette• A daily dose of 5 mg is enough to

addict most people

What Are Youth Saying?

Top 6 Reasons Young People Believe Others Their Age Start Smoking…

• Peer Pressure• Curiosity• Popular Kids Do It• “It’s Cool”• Mothers and/or Fathers Smoke• Brothers and/or Sisters Smoke

(Youth Smoking Survey, Statistics Canada, 2002)

What the Experts Say

• What role do the media play in influencing young people to smoke?

• Self-Promotion of Tobacco Companies

• Learned Behaviors• Peer Pressure

• Social influence• You learn from your friends, they

learn from you• Positive/negative influence• Affects behavior• Is it easy to say no?

Peer Pressure

Smoking - it’s just as well to…

…burn your $

10 Good Reasons to Stop if

you have Started!• Ages the skin prematurely• Teeth and fingers get stained brown • Hair, clothes and breath stink

• Pack/day smoker spends over $240 month and nearly $3000 a year! (Avg. $8/pack)• 10 X more likely to die early from a major heart attack or stroke

Good Reasons to Stop (2)

• 9 out of 10 lung cancer deaths • Male smokers have a lower sperm

count• Female smokers have more trouble

getting pregnant - higher rate of miscarriages

• You may get "peripheral vascular disease" - restricts blood flow to the hands and feet.

• If you don't smoke you'll be fitter.

About Media & Advertising

• $80 million + per year spent in Canada on promotions and sponsorships.

• Target - non-smoking youth• TC promote tobacco use• Product Placement - Media

• Scene Smoking – Television/Movies• Introduction of new products• Sponsorships – Sports and other events• Smoking materials (lighters, matches,

ashtrays)

Tobacco in Movies & Music

Does “Seeing” Really Lead to “Doing?”

- Scene smoking, print ads, sponsorships for sporting events

- 90,000 Canadian teens start smoking each year.

- Over 245 Canadian teens per day- Most smokers start using tobacco before

the age of 18- Many try it before their 13th birthday

Fast Facts

• Youth - 2 X as likely to be influenced by movie advertising than by peer pressure

• TC Companies work very hard to get brand depiction in movies

• Groups working towards anti-smoking warnings on DVD’s

Does Scene Smoking Happen A Lot?

…Yes it Does

“(Cameron) gave up smoking as her 1999 New Year’s resolution after her parents remarked that she had smoked in seven of her movies. “It was something to do with setting a bad example and it preyed on my conscience,” she says. Cameron used to smoke the high nicotine, unfiltered type. “I was into roll-your-own, and I was killing myself.”Now Magazine (UK), Feb. 2, 2000, p. 42-43 (FCSL) 

Superman II - $45,000 for product placement

• They need to recruit youth• You represent tomorrow’s business• 14-24 age group - represent smoker’s

for next 25 years• Once a youth is hooked, (s)he is good

for business • (S)he will pay the tobacco company

about $40,000+ in their lifetime

What They Don’t Want You To Know

“Creative” Attempts to Target Youth

• Millions spent – developing new products• Packaging – colors, designs, etc. • Sponsor sporting/arts events• Women/girls have been extensively targeted in marketing in recent years

What were Power Walls?

• The Tobacco Industry uses rows and rows of cigarette packages to market tobacco to children and youth.• Still consider you the industry’s newest customer.• Willing to try just about anything to get your business

• Power walls came down on January 1st, 2010

• No longer display, promote, advertise cigarettes

Before

After

Tobacco Products • TC are using packaging/advertising

tactics• Invent new products to recruit

youth for tobacco use.

History of Advertisements

• Ads have been around a long time

• Cigarette companies have spent millions of dollars over the years to advertise their lethal product

• Historically, we’ve come a long way • Ads influence pre-smokers

to try smoking• Product traps you• Some people become

“established” smokers

1950’s

1950’s

Print & Sport Sponsorship

Event Sponsorships & Smoking Materials

Some Good News…

• Smoke-Free Policies (Schools, Hospitals)

• Ban smoking in cars with passengers under 16

• Health warnings on cigarette packs• Health Canada• Larger, more graphic images• 75% of pack• Toll-free number for quit-line• Social marketing campaign• Visible early 2012

Examples of New Packaging

• Make healthy informed choices about smoking

• If you smoke, try quitting• If your family/friends smoke…ask

them to stop• Beware of wolves in sheep clothing• Educate self and others about

tobacco and media awareness

Okay…So What Can You Do?

• Encouraging non-smokers to never start• Helping smokers stop

• Smoker’s Helpline – 1-800-363-5864• Talking about smoking with others of all

ages• Develop initiatives with partners • Quit Smoking Programs

Smoking Education in the

Labrador-Grenfell Region

Questions…

Karla LoderHealth Promotion & Education Consultant Tobacco ReductionT: 709-454-3333, X346E: karla.loder@lghealth.ca