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truth® Goes to the Movies
2/21/2007
Movie Theaters Across the Nation to Run truth® Youth Smoking Prevention Ads
Washington, D.C. – Moviegoers can expect to receive smoking awareness messages as theatres across the country will be showcasing spots from the highly effective truth® campaign before films, according to the American Legacy Foundation®, a national public health foundation dedicated to keeping youth from smoking and helping smokers quit. truth® will air before films throughout February and March in the nation’s largest theater chains, including AMC Entertainment, Inc., Cinemark USA, Inc., Regal Entertainment Group and Lowes. The ads began running in January.
More than 17,606 screens in 50 states will feature Singing Cowboy in an effort to counter the effects of smoking depictions in movies, which have been demonstrated to be a significant motivator for youth nationwide to smoke.
“Movies featuring tobacco influence 390,000 new youth to smoke each year. Of this number, a projected 120,000 will later die from smoking. We hope to reach hundreds of thousands of families with the important messages about tobacco addiction and the consequences of smoking,” said Cheryl Healton, Dr. P.H., President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation.
Foundation-funded research conducted by Dartmouth Medical School shows that three-quarters of youth-rated films and 90 percent of R-rated films contain tobacco images. Because movie smoking is linked to youth smoking initiation, the foundation is committed to working with the entertainment industry to include messages before movies that might help counter this effect.
”The foundation encourages cooperative efforts with the entertainment industry, both movie studios and theaters alike – to help us spread the truth about tobacco to teens,” Healton said.
In addition to these efforts, in October 2006, the Weinstein Company, a major motion picture and multi-media company, agreed to a request by 41 state attorneys general to key entertainment industry leaders to include anti-smoking PSAs to DVDs, videos and other newer home viewing formats of movies they distribute depicting smoking. The attorneys general also identified four ads from truth® that the studios can immediately use to help counter the effects of movie smoking. The Weinstein Company, the first to agree to this request to insert the PSAs, began with the truth® spot “1200” in its December 2006 release of “Clerks II” on DVD.
The truth® cinema advertising campaign is part of a matching media buy with National CineMedia (NCM) and Screenvision, which represent the largest theater chains across the country including: AMC Entertainment, Inc., Cinemark USA, Inc., Regal Entertainment Group and Lowes Cineplex Entertainment, Consolidated Theaters and Clearview Cinemas, respectively. The spots will run in Screenvision theaters between January 19 and February 22 and in NCM from January 19 until March 8.
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; EXsm, 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 http://www.americanlegacy.org/.
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Contact: Julia Cartwright, (202) 454-5596; jcartwright@americanlegacy.org