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Hey little girl, want a cigarette with that pack of gum?
Big tobacco companies got their butts kicked Wednesday at City Hall by a group of teenagers fighting to keep cigarette advertising out of their local bodegas and convenience stores.
"It's mostly aimed toward the little children, like your brothers and sisters. The signs are very low to the ground, and the signs are the first thing they see," said Amanda Malave, 16, a high school student from Hunts Point in the Bronx. "Our goal is to make the corner stores be free of smoking tobacco ads."
Malave and a score of other youths from around the city gathered on the City Hall steps to spotlight the issue on National Kick Butts Day.
They also issued the results of a survey of tobacco ads found in 122 convenience stores around the city. . . .
48% or more of stores placed tobacco ads at the eye level of children, a third or more of the stores placed tobacco products within 12 inches from candies and toys, and many stores had numerous tobacco advertising signs posted inside or outside their premises - with one store in Longwood, the Bronx, displaying 46 tobacco advertisements.
In Staten Island, which has the highest smoking rate of all the boroughs, a similar coalition of youth persuaded 24 stores to reduce or remove their ads over the past two years.
Jessica Safier, the program manager for the New York City Coalition for a Smoke-Free City, said the teens weren't blaming the storekeepers.
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State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., today is urging New York State supermarkets to be good neighbors and stop selling tobacco products. In a full-page ad in major upstate newspapers, Commissioner Daines appealed to stores to discontinue the advertising and sale of tobacco products, following the lead of three food market chains that have already done so.
"Grocery stores are very important members of the community and New Yorkers need their leadership on this issue," Commissioner Daines said. "This is the only product being sold by food markets that, when used as intended, will kill their customers and increase the number of those dying from devastating diseases like cancer."
Commissioner Daines noted that some food market chains have in recent months decided to stop selling tobacco products and that others stores should, too. "Stores which adopt a no-tobacco sales policy would be recognized as community and industry leaders," said Commissioner Daines.
Grocery stores are very important members of the community and New Yorkers need their leadership on this issue. This [tobacco] is the only product being sold by food markets that, when used as intended, will kill their customers and increase the number of those dying from devastating diseases like cancer.Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., who is urging New York State supermarkets to be good neighbors and stop selling tobacco products.
What's Kick Butts Day? It's a day for youth to stand out, speak up, and seize control in the fight against tobacco. How? By raising awareness about tobacco--how it harms our health and how Big Tobacco targets kids--and supporting strong tobacco control policies. Want to learn more?
If you're a teacher, youth leader or health advocate planning a Kick Butts Day event in your community, use this Web site to get ideas for Kick Butts Day activities, to register your event so we can promote it for you, and to get materials and gear to make your events fun and memorable.
Are you ready? Get started!
Washington, DC - Thousands of kids across America take center stage in the fight against tobacco on April 5 as they participate in the eleventh annual Kick Butts Day. About 2,000 events are planned in all 50 states (for a list of events in each state, visit www.kickbuttsday.org).
Sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Kick Butts Day is an annual celebration of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco use. This year, Kick Butts Day is focusing attention on the number 1200 – the number of Americans who die every day because of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke (totaling 438,000 deaths a year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
This Kick Butts Day, youth are organizing creative displays to highlight the number 1200 and provide a stark reminder that these lives are not just statistics, but family members, friends and colleagues. Many of the events will feature displays of 1200 pairs of empty shoes. Other events include a display of 1200 footprints that students will sign at Delsea Regional High School in Franklinville, New Jersey; a display of 1200 ribbons in Juneau, Alaska; and an event in Salt Lake City, Utah, where 1200 youth will simultaneously "drop dead" in a public square.
At right: Warren High School students gather around to sign "A Stand Against Tobacco Use" poster and collect free stickers and pencils earlier this week during National Kick Butts Day. A survey coordinated by Teens Against Tobacco Use of Warren Township High School found that 89 percent of 18 nearby stores used outdoor advertisements promoting tobacco products. [This graph only]
Thousands of kids across America will step up to the front lines of the tobacco wars on April 4 for the sixth annual Kick Butts Day. This year's Kick Butts Day promises to be the largest ever, with more than 1,500 events planned in all 50 states and abroad.
Kids are sending two powerful messages on Kick Butts Day 2001: They want the tobacco industry to stop targeting them with advertising and they want Congress and state legislatures to do more to protect them from tobacco. From mock-funerals for the Marlboro Man to rallies at state capitols to surveys of tobacco advertising, kids will be making their presence felt both vocally and visually.
Kick Butts Day comes just weeks after the Federal Trade Commission released a report showing that the tobacco companies are spending more money than ever to market their products, including in magazines and stores popular with kids.
As kids across America stand up to Big Tobacco on the fifth annual Kick Butts Day, the CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS today released a new study showing that the tobacco industry continues to market in ways that impact kids more than adults despite the industry's promises to change its ways.
The study also shows that three-quarters of America's teenagers say it is easy for people under 18 to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products, and two-thirds say it is easy for teens to do so over the Internet.
-- The tobacco industry continues to place many of its ads in magazines that teens are more likely than adults to read -- in some cases, more than three times as likely. For example, 51 percent of teens polled said they regularly read or look at Sports Illustrated, compared to only 16 percent of adults. For People magazine, 35 percent of teens -- but only 20 percent of adults -- said they regularly read the magazine. Advertising in these magazines contradicts the publicly stated policies of Philip Morris and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. not to advertise in publications with high youth readership.