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truth® WRAPS UP 8TH ANNUAL SUMMER TOUR
12/10/2007
Program Continues to Reach Teens Across the Country with Important Health Messages
Washington, D.C. – truth®, the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign for teens, concluded its 2007 truth® Orange summer tour across the nation this past September. The tour traveled nearly 33,000 miles and reached more than 700,000 teens with information about the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking.
The 2007 tour marked the eighth consecutive year truth® has been on the road talking with teens about tobacco at venues and events that appeal to teenagers. Throughout the summer, truth® traveled with two of the season’s hottest teen-oriented music tours: the Vans Warped Tour®, featuring rock acts, and SCREAMFEST ‘07, featuring urban and hip-hop artists. Fourteen young adult truth® “crew members” crisscrossed the country, making more than 60 stops in 49 cities including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver and Los Angeles.
truth® was also on the road this year with the Ball4Real Tour, a basketball-themed event where local players across the country competed with established hoops stars. truth® crew members made eleven stops with Ball4Real. truth® was also in the field for a weekend in September at the CosmoGirl! Beach House tour, on Mission Beach in San Diego, California.
The crew members were selected from a pool of more than 1700 applicants to represent truth® on the tours and to engage in peer-to-peer interaction with teens attending the concerts. At each stop, crew members held fashion shows, dance contests, freestyle rap “battles”, and DJ lessons through “Scratch Academy” (a group of DJs who school newcomers on the fundamentals of DJ’ing, scratching and mixing music). The fun and engaging atmosphere made it easier for truth® crew members to discuss tobacco issues in a non-preachy way. Teens walked away from these interactions with items like tee shirts, bags, ponchos and hats. This truth® “gear” subtly reinforces facts about tobacco and incorporates cool graphics and designs, creating sought after items that teens are proud to wear.
The interaction did not end at the tour stops, but continued online at thetruth.com where youth could read blogs written by crew members, see photos of other stops, and enter contests. truth® captured more than 31,000 e-mail addresses while on the road this year, continuing the trend of teens actively keeping in touch with the brand, as evidenced by the nearly 40,000 people who have added truth® to their circles of friends on social networking sites like MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 and others.
truth® crew members were again featured on the fuse cable channel this year as fuse and truth® extended a successful partnership from 2006. This summer, a series of video vignettes featured life on the Vans Warped tour, where more than 800 people from bands and support crews to roadies traveled across the country all summer as a portable community. Each Wednesday, fuse devoted its entire programming lineup to “Warped Wednesday”, featuring shows dedicated to the tour. The video vignettes featured a documentary-styled, on the ground look at the tour. The presence of the truth® crew and truck in the vignettes was another way for teens to get a real-life sense of life as a crew member devoted to educating teens about tobacco use in a cool, fun setting.
“Given a drastic decline in funding, truth® must continue to find cost efficient and effective ways to connect with teens where they live, work and play,” remarked Cheryl G. Healton, Dr. P.H., President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation®. “Our latest tour reached more than 700,000 teens on the ground and is our main grassroots effort for the year. But we continue to reach teens throughout the year by using all of our assets: having a Web site that attracts 200,000 visits per month; social networking sites with tens of thousands of “friends,” and our TV commercials and campaigns that play on cable stations popular with teens and then are posted on YouTube. All of these different approaches keep truth® top of mind with teens and serve our mission of saving the lives of teens and young adults.”
Research has found that the truth® campaign has accelerated the decline in youth smoking rates. According to a study published in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, the truth® campaign accelerated the decline in youth smoking rates between 2000 - 2002. Twenty-two percent of the overall decline in youth smoking during these years is attributable directly to the truth® campaign. The study, the first to evaluate the behavioral outcomes of the truth® campaign, found that in 2002 there were approximately 300,000 fewer youth smokers as a result of truth®.
truth®, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. truth® allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products. The campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation®, which was founded as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry, 46 states and five U.S. territories. The American Legacy Foundation is funded by MSA payment made on behalf of the settling states.
The American Legacy Foundation® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit www.americanlegacy.org.
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Contact: Patricia McLaughlin, (202) 454-5560