Jump to full article: New York Daily News, 2009-03-26
Author: Frank Lombardi and Dorian Block DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Intro: 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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