truth, the nation’s largest smoking prevention campaign for youth, began its 11th annual nationwide summer tour in June, making tour stops in California and New York City. By traveling throughout the United States this summer, truth is continuing its life-saving mission to educate young people about the health effects, addictiveness and social consequences of tobacco use. Young adult truth “crew members” are interacting with teens across the country at local stops of popular summer musical and sporting events.
truth, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. truth allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products.
Every year, truth crews connect with more than 500,000 teens, giving them the opportunity to experience the truth campaign first-hand. This year, two crews and their signature orange “truth trucks” will make more than 60 stops across more than 25 states, as they travel to some of the season’s hottest teen-oriented events.
One crew will spend the summer traveling with the Vans Warped Tour, an annual summer rock festival featuring upcoming bands as well as more well-known rock and punk acts like Sum 41, Reel Big Fish, Everclear, Dropkick Murphys, I See Stars, and Mayday Parade.
A second truth crew will appear at different events including:
• AST Dew Tour, an action sports tour, featuring the top action sports athletes in the world competing for the highly coveted Dew Cup in skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross.
• The Honda Civic Tour, an annual concert tour sponsored by Honda Motor Company, featuring headlining band Paramore this summer.
• The Tony Hawk tour, an action sports tour.
Among the crew this year is returning truth crew member Felix Lamorena. A Filipino-American from Los Angeles, Lamorena, is excited to rejoin the national tour, work with a new team, and build on the success of last year.
He is joined by fellow Filipina, Anna Santayana. Like many crew members, Anna has been personally affected by the harms of tobacco use in her family. “My uncle was a heavy smoker and he had cancer that spread from his liver, to his pancreas and then to his spine. It was difficult to see him change so drastically and because of this experience, I’m motivated to spread the word about the consequences of tobacco use,” says Anna, a recent Syracuse University graduate.
Research shows that 7 percent of Asian American high school students smoke cigarettes, but Asian American teens may initiate smoking later in life, compared to some other racial groups. Cancer is the second leading cause of death among Asian Americans, and cigarette smoking is a major cause of many cancers.
“Each summer, teens across the country look for our familiar orange truth trucks at concerts, follow the tour online at thetruth.com, and see tour-related programming on popular media channels like fuse and Fuel,” said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, president and CEO of Legacy, the national public health foundation that directs and funds the truth campaign. “As truth celebrates its ten-year anniversary in 2010, the tour has been a significant part of our success over the decade. Touring gives us the opportunity to reach teens directly in their own environment, with our important life-saving messages. As usual, we have a dynamic crew of young people tapped to be crew members for 2010, so we look forward to another terrific year in the field, reaching out to hundreds of thousands of teens.”
Selected from a national pool of applicants, the truth crew members are talented and charismatic young adults that engage in peer-to-peer interaction with teens attending concerts and events. Most tour stops feature the distinctive orange truth truck and zone, which forms a natural gathering place. In the zone, crew members hold fashion shows, dance contests, and freestyle rap “battles”; teach DJ lessons through “Scratch Academy” (a group of DJs who school newcomers on the fundamentals of DJ’ing, scratching and mixing music); play games, and distribute truth “gear” – fashionable and trendy items reflecting tobacco messages. The fun and engaging atmosphere makes it easier for truth crew members to discuss tobacco issues in a non-preachy way.
The summer tour will be enhanced online at www.thetruth.com, which welcomes approximately 60,000 visitors per month. At the site, users can learn about truth, meet the truth crew members who will be out on tour, view video blogs and photos from the field, play games, find out where upcoming events will take place, and view updates from tour stops. Free tickets to events can also be won via online contests.
truth is a multidimensional campaign, featuring not only grassroots outreach through summer tours but also advertising (television, radio, print, online, cinema), websites and interactive elements, and events.
In the past decade, the truth campaign has kept nearly half a million teens from smoking, protecting them from years of addiction and tobacco-related disease and saving countless lives. A growing body of research has confirmed the efficacy of the truth campaign in changing teens’ attitudes and behaviors toward smoking.
A study published in the April 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM) found that truth was directly responsible for keeping 450,000 teens from starting to smoke during its first four years, from 2000 to 2004. A second paper in that same publication 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.
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