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The ad campaign, called Do You Have What It Takes? asks real-life job-seekers whether they would be willing to participate in the types of decisions and situations that tobacco industry executives have made or encountered. The new campaign rolls out at the end of May with television, print, cinema and online advertisements, along with a new Web site and social-networking elements.
Despite the national recession, the tobacco industry remains a very profitable and stable industry. However, even with economic hardship, recent research studies find -- if given the choice -- many Americans would choose not to work in the industry and already have a negative opinion of the tobacco industry
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The truth(R) youth anti-smoking campaign has the power to save hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in smoking-related health care costs and productivity losses, according to the Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth, a group composed of every former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and Health and Human Services, with the exception of Michael Leavitt; every former U.S. Surgeon General; and every former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine indicated that the medical care costs averted by the truth(R) campaign - due to prevention of smoking - were far greater than the costs of the campaign itself and found that for every dollar invested in truth(R), it is estimated that society saved over $6.80. The study focused on the period of 2000-2002. During this period of time, the truth(R) campaign has been credited with reducing the number of children and teen smokers by 300,000.
We believe that if the truth(R) campaign continues for another five years (2009-2015) with similar effectiveness, there will be up to 500,000 fewer youth smokers with savings of up to $9.0 billion in future medical costs.
A growing body of research continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of truth®, the nation’s largest youth smoking prevention campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. A recent study published in the online edition of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) found that the truth® campaign increased antismoking beliefs among teens, decreased their intent to smoke, and lowered the rates of teens starting to smoke. In contrast, Philip Morris’ “Think. Don’t Smoke” campaign had virtually no effect on changing teens’ attitudes about tobacco or smoking initiation. In fact, it actually increased teens’ intentions to smoke soon.
“This is the fourth study to be released in the last few weeks that validates the truth® campaign’s efforts,” said Dr. Cheryl G. Healton, President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation®. . . .
Data from the study came from a three-year, in-school survey of approximately 16,000 youth in grades 6 through 12. Research was conducted by a team from RTI International, Columbia University and Legacy.
Last week, three other new research papers found that truth® remains highly effective as well as cost-efficient in its mission to prevent the youth of America from beginning to smoke:
Ø The first paper found that truth® was directly responsible for keeping 450,000 teens from starting to smoke during its first four years
Ø A second study led by Johns Hopkins found that the campaign not only paid for itself in its first two years, but also saved between $1.9 and $5.4 billion in medical care costs to society. [The two papers will be published in the April issue of AJPM but are available on the Journal’s Web site, http://www.ajpm-online.net/.]
Ø A third paper appearing in the February issue of Ethnicity and Health showed that youth exposed to the truth® campaign were more likely to have anti-tobacco beliefs and attitudes.
February 2009 marks the ninth anniversary of the truth® campaign
In 2005, the American Journal of Public Health published an article that indicated that 22% of the overall decline in youth smoking that occurred between 1999 and 2002 was directly attributable to the truth� social marketing campaign launched in 2000. A remaining key question about the truth campaign is whether the economic investment in the program can be justified by the public health outcomes; that question is examined here. . . .
Results
During 2000–2002, expenditures totaled just over $324 million to develop, deliver, evaluate, and litigate the truth campaign. The base-case cost–utility analysis result indicates that the campaign was cost saving; it is estimated that the campaign recouped its costs and that just under $1.9 billion in medical costs was averted for society. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the basic determination of cost effectiveness for this campaign is robust to substantial variation in input parameters.
Conclusions
This study suggests that the truth campaign not only markedly improved the public's health but did so in an economically efficient manner.
Several scientific studies released today provide powerful new evidence that tobacco marketing causes kids to smoke, while anti-tobacco advertising campaigns prevent smoking. These studies send a loud and clear message to the nation's policy makers: We need less tobacco marketing and more tobacco prevention.
It is critical that Congress this year pass legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products and marketing, which among other things would crack down on tobacco marketing that appeals to kids. It is also imperative that Congress and the states increase funding for programs proven to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.
CDC Study: Youth Smokers Overwhelmingly Prefer Three Most Heavily Advertised Brands . . .
Three Studies Finds truth(R) Prevention Campaign Reduces Smoking and Saves Money
The youth smoking prevention campaign "truth," created with input from the Boston ad agency Arnold, has launched a "ReMix" project on its website that features songs with anti-tobacco messages.
"Songs from the current truth advertising campaign will be getting a new twist this summer when nine innovative and well-known DJs and bands put new spins on the songs by re-mixing them in styles from house and hip-hop to electro," the American Legacy Foundation said. . . .
The latest iteration of that campaign is called the "Sunny Side of truth," and the "Sunny Side" music ReMix phase of that campaign, which launched yesterday, features such DJs and bands as Cobra Starship, Diplo, Kaskade, and Mix Master Mike (shown at right in a photo from his website), the foundation said.
Although playful and upbeat in tone, the songs convey a strong anti-tobacco message, the foundation said. The plan is to make this music available on websites that teens frequent, including websites accessible by cellphone.
FlickerLab, the New York-based development, design and animation studio, has created a :45 animated film parody, "The People VS Leaf," for the American Legacy Foundation®, whose mission it is to build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. The spot began airing nationally on Comedy Central, December 1st.
http://www.flickerlab.com/pr/comedy_central/people_vs_leaf/
A University study explained why these ads deter smoking - or promote cigarette usage.
"Anti-smoking campaigns may not have a direct impact on adolescents' smoking. They may even have some unexpected impact," said Hye-Jin Paek, an assistant professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and co-author of a study published in the journal "Communication Research."
Unintended consequences of ads can heighten the rebellious and naturally curious nature of youth, increasing the inclination to smoke, according to the study.
Paek and co-author Albert Gunther from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggested that peer perception of the ads have the greatest impact on adolescent smoking.
"They can [be effective], though, when they reinforce the perception that their close friends listen and respond to the campaigns," Paek said.
As cited in the study, Florida's 1998 "truth" campaign proved the most effective at decreasing smoking prevalence and developing antismoking attitudes.
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the big tobacco conspiracy: why is $200 billion a year spent on films no-one sees? how tobacco companies manipulate the media
Added: 1 year ago
Anti-smoking ads that reveal the tobacco industry's deceptive practices have been aggressively quashed through various methods found Temple University Assistant Professor Jennifer K. Ibrahim, co-author of an analysis in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
In the article, Ibrahim tracks the rise and fall of state and national efforts to curb smoking for the past 40 years. She chronicles industry strategies to prevent a campaign's creation, steer messages to smaller audiences, limit the content of the message, limit or eliminate the campaign's funding, and pursue litigation against the campaign. Ibrahim looks at campaigns in Minnesota, California, Arizona, Oregon, Florida, and a national campaign from the American Legacy Foundation.
"It tells the story behind the smoke. People often judge these ads and now you know what the tobacco industry was doing trying to undermine them," Ibrahim said. . . .
State health departments face an uphill battle when dealing with the political clout of the industry with its lobbying, campaign contributions and specials events, Ibrahim said.
One tactic also involves the industry producing its own ineffective campaigns in order to portray state programs as duplicative and a waste of public dollars. Campaigns designed by the tobacco companies patronize youth in their early teen years, with messages like "Think, Don't smoke", Ibrahim said.
In contrast, Florida's "truth" anti-smoking campaign empowered them by giving them information about how the tobacco industry tried to manipulate by marketing.
Actor/rapper Nick Cannon is putting a satirical spin on a serious subject with his role in a new advertising campaign from truth, the American Legacy Foundation's national youth smoking prevention campaign.
In the new television ad, which began airing Monday (May 14), the MTV Wild 'n Out host sits down with Derrick Beckles, a roving documentarian investigating Big Tobacco. . ..
"Back in the 80's, tobacco companies labeled African-Americans as less-educated, prefer malt-liquor and have problems with their own self-esteem," said Cannon, who expresses shock and disappointment by the end of the ad.
The spot, which is part of a documentary campaign organized by truth, is the foundation's way of using a satirical approach to reinforce some of what it feels is the absurdity of the tobacco industry's views.
The American Legacy Foundation® announced that “Shut Up & Sing,†the Dixie Chicks documentary (November 2006), and “School for Scoundrels†(September 2006) are the latest DVDs released by the Weinstein Company to include a spot from the foundation’s award-winning youth smoking prevention campaign, truth®. The ads are being placed in DVDs in order to counter the effect that smoking in movies has on youth smoking initiation, according to the foundation.
“Movies likely motivate more than 390,000 kids a year to start smoking,†said Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H., President and CEO of the foundation. “Including an anti-tobacco message before films that show smoking scenes is a simple way to prevent thousands of youth from smoking, and can ultimately reduce the impact of tobacco addiction and premature death that accompany it,†Healton said.
The American Legacy Foundation beat back the last remnant of a challenge from Lorillard Tobacco Wednesday when the Federal Communications Commission ruled in the smoking prevention group's favor.
The Commission dismissed the cigarette maker's claim that an ad for truth campaign violated FCC rules by including recordings from telephone conversations. The offending ad was a radio spot in which a young actor identifying himself as a dog walker called the Lorillard switchboard. He offered to sell the company urine from his dogs to help the company manufacture cigarettes. The prank was based on documents the tobacco industry supplied the federal government listing cigarette ingredients, one of which was urea--a compound found in urine.
The American Legacy Foundation®’s national youth smoking prevention campaign brings its recently launched Infect truth® campaign directly to teens this week by placing new truth® “profile pages†on popular social networking sites. The Infect truth® campaign, first launched on Oct. 23, targeted traditional media such as television and magazines. This next phase of the campaign connects with teens on another level, reaching them through online sites where they frequently gather and share information.
Placing truth® -related materials on the social networking sites MySpace, Hi5, Bebo, and Piczo, as well as Xanga (a community of online diaries and journals) marks the campaign’s first foray into having a presence on social media sites of this type. By tapping into new “forward to a friend†technology, truth® is pushing the capabilities of these social networking sites by encouraging teens to make the truth® message their own and communicate it directly to their friends and peers. The combined reach of the social networking Web sites exceeds 59 billion monthly page views. Having the truth® campaign engage with this viral capability marks a strategic approach to spread the campaign’s messages quickly, organically and economically.
Independent movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose cigarette habit was once so extreme he was fined for lighting up in a restroom on a British Airways flight, has become Hollywood's newest anti-smoking messenger.
On Tuesday, California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer announced that Weinstein Co. was the first movie company to agree to insert anti-smoking advertisements in DVDs that depict smoking.
"As a former smoker, I feel like it's my responsibility to do everything I can to educate young people about the dangers of smoking," said Weinstein, who kicked the habit last year.
As a former smoker, I feel like it's my responsibility to do everything I can to educate young people about the dangers of smoking.Independent movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose cigarette habit was once so extreme he was fined for lighting up in a restroom on a British Airways flight. The Weinstein Co. is the first movie company to agree to insert anti-smoking advertisements in DVDs that depict smoking. "