Activities

For decades, Big Tobacco has marketed its deadly and addictive products to youth like you. Thanks to a 2009 law passed by Congress, the Food and Drug Administration has restricted some forms of tobacco marketing.  However, in the U.S. alone, tobacco marketing still totals $8.5 billion a year – nearly one million dollars each day.  Their method may be more subtle, but their goal remains the same: to get young people like you to smoke.

We need your help. We want to know: how is tobacco marketed to you? Do you see it in stores, magazines or social media? What tobacco marketing tactics do you encounter in a day? A week?  A month? Show us.

The best part? You don’t have to wait until Kick Butts Day to get started. In fact, the sooner you get started, the better!

You’ll Need

Smartphone with camera, Instagram, walking shoes!

Participating is easy:

1. Download Instagram from the Apple App Store or from Google Play.
2. Take a photo with your smartphone of any tobacco marketing you encounter. Keep your eyes peeled:
   • At convenience stores
   • In drug stores
   • At the mall
   • When you’re reading magazines or newspapers
   • On social media

   Note: Use common sense. Don’t take pictures where or when you’re not supposed to.

3. Write a brief description of the photo. Tell us what we’re looking at. Where did you take the picture – and how is it an example of Big Tobacco targeting kids? Don’t forget to include the city and state where you took the picture.
4. Upload your photo to Instagram. Tag your pictures #TobaccoTargetsMe.
5. Your pictures will appear in our online gallery. (Note: Your Instagram feed must be public for this to work.)

We also encourage you to tell your friends about this project! The more people we have participating, the more powerful the message will be.

A Note on preparing your Instagram account:

In order for your photos to be searchable through #tobaccotargetsme, you must set your privacy settings to share photos. You can learn more about privacy settings here.

No Instagram? No problem!

Email your photos to tobaccotargetsme@kickbuttsday.org and we will push them out on our own Instagram account, @KickButtsDay

In addition to your picture, please include the following information in your email:

• Your first name and last initial (so we can give you credit!)
• The city and state where you took the picture
• A brief description. Tell us what we’re looking at. Where did you take the picture – and how is it an example of Big Tobacco targeting kids?

What you’re looking for—examples:

• Candy-flavored cigars
• Large advertisements outside convenience stores or gas stations
• Other tobacco products (new products including snus, smokeless)
• Colorful products/displays
• E-cigarettes
• Tobacco products/ads near candy
• Discounted products

Do’s and Don’ts

Do:

• Submit a photo every time you see tobacco marketing.
• Write a description so we know the context of your submission.
• Be polite. If a store owner asks you what you are doing, tell him/her you are doing research on advertising for a school project. If he/she asks you not to take photos, then don’t.
• Tell your friends!

Don’t:

• Submit pictures of other people using tobacco.
• Take pictures in movie theaters.
• Submit irrelevant or inappropriate photos.

Want to take the activity a step further?

You can:

• Make a collage of the photos and incorporate it into your pledge wall.
• Have a discussion in your class about how Big Tobacco still markets to youth.
• Count how many tobacco retailers kids in your community see on their way to school as part of the Walking Tobacco Audit.
• See if there are more tobacco retailers than fast food joints in your town.
• Participate in the point of sale scavenger hunt.
• Upload your (unfiltered) picture to CounterTobacco. In just a few minutes, you can show even more people the harmful effects of tobacco industry marketing in your community.

Help! My pictures aren’t showing up in the gallery!

It may take a few hours for your images to appear in the gallery. The Kick Butts Day team needs to approve the images to make sure that we’re not posting inappropriate materials. Other reasons why your images aren’t showing up:

• You may have mis-typed #tobaccotargetsme (An easy mistake on a small keyboard!)
• In order for your photos to be searchable through #tobaccotargetsme, you must set your privacy settings to share photos. You can learn more about privacy settings here.

Can you guess how many tobacco retailers kids in your community see on their way to school? Don’t know? Here’s your chance to find out.

You’ll Need

Audit form, audit guide, route map, clipboards, pencils, digital camera, poster board, stickers/push pins for visual display, comfortable walking attire.

Why is this important?

Point of sale (POS), or tobacco marketing at retail locations, has been a primary venue for tobacco industry advertising and promotions. Exposure to POS advertising and promotions prompts smoking initiation, encourages tobacco use, and undermines quit attempts.^1,2 Youth are three times more sensitive than adults to tobacco adverstising.³ Each day, almost 4,000 kids in the United States try their first cigarette and an additional 1,000 kids under age 18 become new, daily smokers.⁴ That’s over 400,000 new underage daily smokers each year.⁴ The purpose of this activity is to raise awareness of youth exposure to tobacco marketing.

What will youth do during a walking tobacco audit?

A walking tobacco audit offers youth a chance to see how many tobacco retailers and how many tobacco advertisements are located along their route to school. Participants will identify the number of tobacco retailers along the major routes to school and tally the tobacco product names, brands, and prices that can be seen from outside those stores. Youth will take photographs of tobacco advertisements to create a visual display of their findings.

Instructions

3-4 Weeks Before the Event

• Contact local town legislators to schedule a time for youth to share the results of their tobacco audit.

1-2 Weeks Before the Event

• Identify your walk route. You could choose to walk along a designated school bus route or develop your own route based on your school district’s walk zones. You can find this information on your school district’s website. Either way, be strategic in your choice to make sure there are tobacco retailers on your route.
• Contact local newspapers and news stations to tell them you will be conducting a walking tobacco audit of retailers along school routes in your community. Invite them to cover your event.
• Familiarize yourself with the ‘How to conduct an audit’ guide.  This will help you focus on the right things during your walking audit.

Day of the Event

• Make copies of the audit form. You will need one copy of the form for each retailer along your planned route.
• Review the audit form and the ‘How to conduct an audit’ guide with your group.
• Gather additional materials and equipment needed for each session in appropriate quantities (clipboards, stickers, route map, pens/pencils).
• Walk your route following the instructions on the audit form.

After the Event

• Find a time and place to meet after the walk to debrief.
• Compile final tallies of tobacco retailers and advertisements from individual audit forms.
• Discuss what you saw. Here are some possible discussion questions: What did you learn today? How could these types of advertisements affect youth? Do you see this as an issue? If so, what do you think can be done about it?
• Create a visual display of tobacco retailers and advertisements along the school route. The included example may give you ideas but your youth group can use poster board, tri-fold posters, or anything you want to create the visual display. Be creative!
• Share your findings with local school boards and policy makers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What if I don’t live in an urban environment?
While the activity is best suited for an urban environment, you can certainly lead your youth group on a walking audit of tobacco retailers if you live in other locations. Keep in mind that you may not encounter as many tobacco retailers and/or advertisements.

Q: What should I do if a store owner wants to know what we are doing?
You are only observing advertisements that are visible from outside of the store. If someone questions what you are doing, let them know that your group is working on a project to learn more about advertising in your community. You may consider letting the store owner know what your group is doing when you arrive at the store.

Q: What if I have more than 6 participants?
To ensure the safety of the participating kids, this activity is best suited for groups of 4-6 kids. Larger groups should be divided into subgroups for the walk and each subgroup should audit a route for a different school in your community. The subgroups can then come back together to discuss what they saw as a larger group.

Q: How long will it take to complete the walk?
The total time may vary, but the audit should take 1-2 hours to complete. The debrief should take 1-2 additional hours to complete. It may be more feasible to break the activity up into two sessions on different days.

Q: How do I choose a good route for the activity?
The walking audit is meant to be done during the day so we suggest a route that is safe and easily walkable by a large group. You may consider choosing a route along the designated school walk zones or bus routes, but make sure there are tobacco retailers. The event coordinator should walk the route before the event to ensure that it is suitable.

Q: Do we need to have a digital camera(s) and camcorder for this activity?
Yes, digital or disposable cameras or smartphones with cameras are required for the activity. Photographs will be used to create your final visual display. A camcorder is optional, as you may wish to create a video documenting your activity.

Q: Where can I find more information about POS marketing and advertising?
CounterTobacco.org has a lot of great resources to learn more about tobacco marketing and policy solutions.

References

1. Lavack, A. M. & Toth, G. (2006). Tobacco point-of-purchase promotion: examining tobacco industry documents. Tobacco Control, 15(5), 377-84.
2. Pollay, R.W. (2007). More than meets the eye: on the importance of retail cigarette merchandising. Tobacco Control, 16(4), 270-4.
3. Pollay, R.W. (1996). The last straw? Cigarette advertising and realized market shares among youths and adults. Journal of Marketing, 60(2):1-16.
4. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS. (2011). Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, NSDUH: Summary of National Findings. http://oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/tabs/Sect4peTabs10to11.pdf.

Communities are saturated with fast food restaurants. But how about tobacco retailers? What if our Fast Food Nation is really more of a Tobacco Retailer Nation? Find out how your community stacks up with this activity

You’ll Need

Computers with internet access

Why is this important?

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, contributing to more cases of disease, disability and death than poor nutrition.¹ The prevalence and placement of tobacco retailers plays a major role in the epidemic of tobacco related illness in the United States.² Tobacco retailer density—the number of outlets selling tobacco for a given geographic location or population size—and its accompanying barrage of tobacco product advertising, tempt smokers trying to quit and new smokers alike, by cueing them to smoke and making cigarettes easily accessible.³ Research has shown that higher tobacco retailer density is positively correlated with smoking by both adults and adolescents.^4,5 It is estimated that one half million stores in the U.S. sell cigarettes and, all too often, these stores are located near schools and other areas that youth frequent.^3,4 The purpose of this activity is to increase awareness about tobacco retailer density in your community.

What will youth do during Tobacco Retailer Nation?

Participants will map tobacco retailers and fast food restaurants in their community.  This activity will show the density of tobacco retailers—the number of outlets selling tobacco for a given geographic location or population size- compared with fast food restaurant density. This exercise can create a compelling argument and visual evidence to limit the number of tobacco retailers. 

Instructions

Activity Preparation

• Decide what geographic area you want to focus on for the activity.  You could choose the zip code, city, or county level.
• In your group, think of the popular fast food chains in your town. Decide which one(s) you want to use. Use the Store Locator on fast food chains’ websites to find out addresses and make sure you don’t forget any stores.
• Identify the tobacco retailers in your area. Find tobacco retailer data from local or state licensing lists, SYNAR data, or your own brainpower and knowledge of your town!

The Activity

• Divide up the investigation. Assign either a fast food chain or a tobacco retailer category (pharmacy, gas station, convenience store or supermarket) to each person/ pair.
• Map the locations! Using Google Maps, create a shared map that everyone in your group has access to. If you don’t already use Google Maps, learn how to make a custom map here.  Use different color pins to show fast food chains vs. tobacco retailers. Don’t have access to Google Maps? Use a printed map and different color thumb tacks to show the different stores or make a pictograph to represent the number of stores in each category.
• Figure out some stats! Determine the ratio of tobacco retailer to the fast food chain you selected. Use the population of your geographic area to find out how many tobacco retailers vs. fast food restaurants there are per person. Use the area to find out how many tobacco retailers vs. fast food restaurants there are per square mile in your geographic area.
• Bonus: Map out where the schools are in relation to the tobacco retailers and fast food chains, in order to show the proximity between youth and tobacco. If you have time, add in parks, community centers and/or places of worship.

After the Event

• Make multiple teams and try to tackle the whole county! This could be a great year-round activity.
• Send your finalized map and statistics to your legislators. Many adults are unaware of the amount of tobacco retailers and also their proximity to schools.
• Turn your map into a game for events.  Have people guess which pins represent fast food chains and which are tobacco retailers. Write up your statistics without the numbers and have people try to fill in the blanks.
• Visit Countertobacco.org to learn about how licensing and zoning restrictions can be used to limit the number of tobacco retailers in your community.

References

1. Mokdad AH, Marks JS, Stroup DF, Gerberding JL. (2004). Actual causes of death in the United States, 2000. JAMA, 291(10), 1238-45.
2. Banthin, C., Tobacco Control Legal Consortium. (2010). Regulating Tobacco Retailers: Options for State and Local Governments. http://publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/tclc-fs-retailers-2010_0.pdf.
3. Counter Tobacco. (2012). Licensing, Zoning and Retailer Density. http://countertobacco.org/licensing-zoning-and-retailer-density.
4. Henriksen L, Feighery EC, Schleicher NC, Cowling DW, Kline RS, Fortmann SP. (2008). Is adolescent smoking related to the density and proximity of tobacco outlets and retail cigarette advertising near schools? Preventive Medicine, 47(2):210-4.
5. Henriksen, L. (2012). Comprehensive tobacco marketing restrictions: promotion, packaging, price and place. Tobacco Control, 21(2): 147-53.

Do you know what the tobacco industry has lurking in your community? Have you seen where it’s lurking? Every day we see tobacco advertisements or displays in the same stores where we buy milk and medicine. Help open eyes to POS issues in your community with this activity.

You’ll Need

Scavenger lists, store lists, pens, clipboards, camera

Why is this important?

Point of sale (POS), or tobacco marketing at retail locations, has been a primary venue for tobacco industry advertising and promotions. Exposure to POS advertising and promotions prompts smoking initiation, encourages tobacco use, and undermines quit attempts.^1,2 Youth are three times more sensitive than adults to tobacco advertising.³ Each day, almost 4,000 kids in the United States try their first cigarette and an additional 1,000 kids under age 18 become new, daily smokers.⁴ That’s over 400,000 new underage daily smokers each year.⁴ The purpose of this activity is to raise awareness of youth exposure to tobacco marketing and products.

What will youth do during a POS Scavenger Hunt?

Participants will visit stores to find and document tobacco industry point of sale marketing materials and products.

Instructions

Before the Event

• Create scavenger hunt lists. Use the lists provided with this activity or create your own. If you create your own, check out the adaptations section. Make enough copies for everyone participating..
• Identify a list of stores to visit. Common store types include grocery stores, supermarkets, gas stations, convenience stores, newstands, pharmacies and drug stores. Divide the stores up among the teams—Make sure you have enough stores for the number of teams participating (3-5 stores per team) 
• Gather the other necessary materials (pens/pencils, cameras—Phone cameras work and are easily accessible)

Day of the Event

• Divide your group into teams—make it a competition! 2-3 youth per team works best—they can all fit in a car and won’t overwhelm most stores when they enter.
• Review the scavenger hunt cards. Discuss any items or POS language that is unfamiliar.
• Designate a scavenger hunt supervisor, who will stay and wait for the teams to return to a central point, like your school or community center.
• Define an amount of time/ when and where the groups will meet back.
• If you can’t go to actual stores, but have access to computers, have a virtual scavenger hunt!  Search online or check out the countertobacco.org gallery for the images of the items.

Let the Hunt Begin

• Each team should have a photographer and a scribe. As each group finds items, check it off your list and make notes about what you saw. If you can, take a picture to document it! Record the address and store name where the item was found.
• If the group is tech savvy have them ‘drop pins’ on a map on their smart phones and create a map.  Learn how to make a custom Google map here.
• When the groups return, debrief about what they found and share photos. Prizes can be given for the best finds from each category!

After the Event

There are many ways to use the information you gathered in your POS scavenger hunt.  Here are some ideas:

• Use the photos to make a slide show showcasing the best POS examples in your community.
• Upload your photos to the gallery at countertobacco.org.
• Print out your best photos and send them to your policymaker.  Many adults don’t set foot into convenience stores, but youth hang out there, get snacks and magazines. Present these photos when you or your adult partners are advocating for policies, or doing friendly visits with your legislators.
• If you don’t have a local licensing list in your community use the store addresses to build a list to use for density activities.
• Use the map of the stores you visited and photos you took to create a visual display of what you found. Be creative!
• Visit Countertobacco.org’s POS Marketing, Advertising and Promotions page to find more resources and policy solutions to combat the tobacco industry in your neighborhood!

Adaptations

Teams and Time Frame

Let the group you are working with inform how you divide up to complete the activity. If you are working with younger youth, remember you will need chaperones for each team.  Make sure you get guardians to sign releases if this is necessary for your organization! Some variations include:

• Give each team a specific route (to a school, park, place of worship, or community center) or section of town to cover.
• Have individuals complete the activity between meetings.  Make and distribute cards at one meeting then share the results at the next.  This can help demonstrate how often POS materials are seen during their normal routine.

Creating the Scavenger Hunt Cards

Tailor your cards to your group.  Take in to account how much time you have, how familiar the group is with POS, what you would like to do with information after game.

• Use the list to create cards ahead of time.
• Have the group brain storm their own list of items, then pick items to go on the card.
• Search for items from specific store types or brands. This can be helpful if you’re using the game to help collect information to target a certain issue.

References

1. Lavack, A. M. & Toth, G. (2006). Tobacco point-of-purchase promotion: examining tobacco industry documents. Tobacco Control, 15(5), 377-84.
2. Pollay, R.W. (2007). More than meets the eye: on the importance of retail cigarette merchandising. Tobacco Control, 16(4), 270-4.
3. Pollay, R.W. (1996). The last straw? Cigarette advertising and realized market shares among youths and adults. Journal of Marketing, 60(2):1-16.
4. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), HHS. (2011). Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, NSDUH: Summary of National Findings. http://oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k10NSDUH/tabs/Sect4peTabs10to11.pdf.

A “bucket list” is a list of things that you want to accomplish within a certain time frame. In honor of Kick Butts Day, we present to you a “Butt-It List” of fun things for your group to do to explain the harms of tobacco and why you should be tobacco-free.

Paper, markers, sticky notes, a camera or camera phone

1. Recruit participants and issue the challenge, explaining the Butt-It list.
2. Decide whether or not you would like to change the Butt- It list or add cool ideas of your own!
3. Download and print template one and template two. Prepare all of the materials you need for Kick Butts Day.
4. Divide into teams and have each group complete all of the activities on the list on Kick Butts Day or during the week of Kick Butts Day.
5. Have participants document their work by taking pictures and or video.
6. At the end of your event, submit your completed Butt-It List to a teacher or group leader who will judge which group member was most creative. You can upload pictures to tumblr.

1. Get approval from school to share a special morning announcement on your school’s intercom or morning TV station about Kick Butts Day and raise awareness about the problem of tobacco.
2. Take pictures of 10 people holding up a sign with your school mascot and a personalized message of why they are tobacco- free.
3. Post 20 Anti-Tobacco sticky notes around school. (Examples of prime locations include: lockers, hallways, doors, bathroom stalls). Choose what messages you want to use here.
4. Pass out 20 cards at lunch to students showing them what is in a cigarette.
5. Come up with an anti-tobacco dance and take pictures or video of 10 people doing the dance. Some examples of some popular dances you can use include: a “Smoke-Free Style” version of Gangnam Style or a “Teach Me How to be Smoke-Free” version of “Teach Me How to Dougie”.
6. Set up a table in a visible area and have students write your representative/senator on the importance of tobacco prevention funding. This report shows the decline in tobacco prevention funding, particularly in comparison to tobacco generated income.

Creating a powerful visual display can help people in your community realize the deadly consequences of tobacco use and the tactics used by the tobacco industry to market their products.

A poster with a statistic about tobacco or tobacco-related deaths, items to represent your statistic to create a visual display (ideas include chairs, desks, shoes, backpacks, lunchboxes, or anything you will be able to get enough of to represent your statistic).

Tip: It is helpful to break the statistic down into minutes, hours, or days to make it more relevant and easier to represent visually.

• Determine what your statistic will be and write it on a poster, make a large sign to display, or announce it on the loudspeaker.
• Collect the items you will use to represent your statistic.
• Create your visual display in an area where many people will see it such as a field, lunch room, or hallway and have representatives there from your group to talk about the statistic, and what you’re doing in your school or community to lower the rate of tobacco use or encourage policy.

Creating a powerful visual display can help people in your community realize the deadly consequences of tobacco use and the tactics used by the tobacco industry to market their products.

"Laundry" items (such as old shirts, socks, sheets, and pants), markers, a clothes line and something to string it from, clothes pins, tobacco company quotes on marketing to kids.

• Make a sign that says “We’re Airing Out Big Tobacco’s ‘Dirty Laundry.’
• Write quotes from the tobacco industry on the articles of clothing to expose what the industry has said historically about marketing tobacco products to young adults.
• Hang up the decorated clothing on a clothes line in a populated area such as a hallway or lunchroom.

A flash mob can be used to capture attention and promote your message in visual and creative way. Here is a video of a previous flash mob held in honor of Kick Butts Day.

A location that is heavily populated, people to dance in your flash mob, markers and paper for posters, and transportation (if the flash mob is held somewhere other than your school) and dancing skills!

Before the event:

• Recruit interested dancers for your flash mob, including a choreographer.
• Plan a flash mob routine and teach it to those who will be participating. Choose a time, or a signal, so that participants know when to freeze and when to join in the flash mob.
• Create eye-catching, easy to read posters with messages about tobacco’s toll. If you plan to have a table at the site of the flash mob, create a banner for the table and make sure you have resources available for participants here.
• Hold your flash mob at lunch or in between classes — whenever there are a lot of people in one location.

On the day of the event:

• Your group should disperse and wander through the area, blending in with the other people in the crowd.
• At the pre-determined time or signal, all participants will freeze. While freezing, participants can hold up their signs with tobacco-free messages.

Creating a powerful visual display can help people in your community realize the deadly consequences of tobacco use and the tactics used by the tobacco industry to market their products.

Plastic cups.

• Find a fence that many people pass by every day.
• Get permission from the owner of the property to decorate the fence, and agree to clean it up after your event.
• Decide what message you would like to display and put plastic cups through the holes of your fence to spell it out. The message can be a few simple words such as “Tobacco Lies,” or a phrase of your choice.

Creating a powerful visual display can help people in your community realize the deadly consequences of tobacco use and the tactics used by the tobacco industry to market their products.

Posters, markers, Body Bags (ask your local police department or hospital) or black trash bags, newspaper and other materials to make the “body bags” look full.

• Decide how many body bags you will use. You can use a specific number to represent a statistic (see “Numbers campaign”) or you can use the body bags to display facts or show smoking-related deaths. (see State-specific tobacco data)
• Stuff the body bags with paper. Instead of paper, you can also add some fake money and leave the bag slightly open. If you choose to do this, include a sign that says "If you smoke 1 pack a day, this is what Big Tobacco thinks your life is worth." Write a dollar amount on each bag. (To come up with your numbers, multiply the number of packs smoked a day by the price per pack, multiply that by 365, and then multiply that by the number of years the “person” has smoked.
• Make posters with your statistic on them.
• Set up your display.