Southern Tier youths protest tobacco company marketing
About 40 members of Reality Check NY, a youth program of the Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Coalition, took part in a protest outside the annual meeting of a major tobacco company last week.
The teen anti-smoking advocates lined up Thursday outside the Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia, the site of the annual shareholder meeting of Altria, parent company of Phillip Morris USA.
Many of the youths were dressed in skull caps and skeleton costumes, and were protesting what they claim are efforts to market cigarettes and other tobacco products to children and youths.
“Phillip Morris USA claims it doesn’t market to kids and doesn’t want them to start smoking,” Reality Check program coordinator Sarah Robbins said in a news release. “If that’s the case, then why are they spending $9.6 billion per year to market their products where kids are likely to see it?”
Studies show that kids who shop in stores with tobacco marketing, such as gas stations and convenience stores, are 64 percent more likely to start smoking than their friends who don’t, according to the release.
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Amber Updike, a middle school student from Watkins Glen, attended the meeting as the proxy for a shareholder. She echoed Robbins' concerns.
"Despite what they say, Phillip Morris USA spends billions marketing their deadly products right in front of us,” Updike said. “Enough is enough, already."
Altria officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
The Altria shareholders demonstration was a joint effort between Reality Check NY and Counter Tools, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a not-for-profit organization that provides advocacy training to public health workers who are working on point-of-sale tobacco control.
To prepare for the demonstration, the Reality Check youths spent the previous day learning about tobacco control policies, how the tobacco industry contracts with retailers and how they can stand up, speak out and make a difference in the fight against big tobacco.
Follow Jeff Murray on Twitter @SGJeffMurray.
For more information
- To learn more about Reality Check and the Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Coalition, go to realitycheckofny.com or sttac.org.