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September 2012
In This Issue:
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New CDC Report: Smoking in Youth-Rated  Movies is Up
Only months after the office of the U.S. Surgeon General warned that exposure to on-screen smoking causes young people to start smoking, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has spotlighted the U.S. movie industry's failure to protect young audiences. The Legacy-funded study published Sept. 27 in Preventing Chronic Disease shows that four out of the six major Hollywood studios featured more smoking in their youth-rated (G, PG and PG-13) movies in 2011. This reverses a five-year decline in movie smoking, from 2005 to 2010.
Highlights from "Smoking in Top-Grossing Movies in 2011":
- Overall, tobacco incidents per youth-rated film climbed by more than one-third above 2010.
- The three major studios with published policies addressing onscreen smoking - Disney, Universal (Comcast) and Warner Bros. (Time Warner) - saw the sharpest increases in the number of tobacco incidents per youth-rated movie.
- Across the industry, youth-rated movies accounted for 68 percent of all tobacco impressions delivered to theater audiences in 2011, compared to 39 percent in 2010.
The review was conducted by Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! (TUTD), a project of Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails and the University of California, San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
Read the full release and report details here.
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Join Legacy for the Next Warner Series Lecture: Tobacco Control Policy and Trade Negotiations
Tobacco is the number-one preventable cause of death around the world, responsible for six million deaths each year. As nations enact life-saving regulations on tobacco products - especially ones that protect young people - their efforts are continually under attack by tobacco companies and their allies who claim regulations violate the international trade agreements that make consumer products readily available between countries.
On October 17, Legacy will host an important discussion exploring the complex issues surrounding the Transpacific Partnership Agreement, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and their implications for US tobacco control. The presentation will delve into the regulation of clove and menthol products and other policies at risk of being negotiated away or overturned, undoing years of progress in the tobacco control movement.
Registration details coming soon. For more information, contact: lcruzada@legacyforhealth.org. Visit www.legacyforhealth.org/warnerseries for details.
Moderator: Diane Canova, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Legacy
Panelists:
- Chris Bostic, Deputy Director for Policy, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) - a civil society international law expert.
- Benn D. McGrady, Project Director, Initiative on Trade, Investment and Health, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University
- Representative Sharon Treat, House District 79, State of Maine
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
12:30 to 2:00 P.M., ET
1724 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
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Flavor Monsters Invade the Mobile Gaming World
Killer monsters are attacking Earth! Masked in more than 45 candy flavors, monsters are roaming the streets on which our children play, luring them in with their sweet flavors. In a new mobile game, Flavor Monsters from truth®, players are transported into a not-too-distant future where they have to shoot "flavor monsters" down to save the world. The "flavor monsters" represent the added flavorings in tobacco products - like chewing tobacco and cigars - that can be so appealing to young people.
With the launch of Flavor Monsters, the truth message can be carried with youth wherever they go via their mobile devices. Teens are increasingly looking to games for fun and entertainment. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's January 2010 report - GENERATION M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds - young people spend 17 minutes per day playing video games on the computer. truth has always been on the cutting edge, connecting with youth where they naturally gather and through activities they enjoy - this new game does just that. The mobile game is part of a comprehensive effort including entertainment integrations, specialty gear, touring, and social media.
To support the game, truth embarked on its first ever gaming tour this August, connecting the Flavor Monsters game experience to gamers in a tangible and interactive way. To date, truth has visited several popular gaming conventions across the country including stops in Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Baltimore, with upcoming stops including Columbus, OH, and New York City.
Flavor Monsters is free to download on select Apple and Android devices. To learn more about the elements of the Flavor Monsters campaign, read the full press release here. Or view the trailer and other videos around Flavor Monsters here: http://www.youtube.com/thetruthgames .
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Many Menthol Smokers Say They Would Quit if Menthols Were No Longer Available
A new Legacy study released on Sept. 20 in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) presents the first peer-reviewed data on menthol smokers' behavioral intention if menthol cigarettes were taken off the market, a decision pending with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The results of the national survey show that nearly 40 percent of menthol smokers say they would quit if menthol cigarettes were no longer available.
"Many menthol smokers are motivated to quit, but may have a more difficult time doing so than regular cigarette smokers," said Jennifer Pearson, PhD, MPH, Research Investigator for the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies (SI) at Legacy and lead author of the study. "If the FDA were to ban menthols, hundreds of thousands of smokers might get that extra push they need to make the life-saving decision to quit smoking rather than switching to a non-menthol brand," said Pearson. Previous research from the SI published in AJPH suggested that a menthol ban might prevent up to 600,000 smoking-related premature deaths by 2050, a third of those among African Americans.
Read the full release here.
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Awakening the Spirit for Tobacco Free Pacific Islands
On Sept. 17, Legacy and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus jointly sponsored the Awakening the Spirit for Tobacco Free Pacific Islands briefing which provided an overview of tobacco control in the United States Pacific Affiliated Islands (USAPI), highlighting a new report produced collaboratively between Legacy and the Pacific Partners for Tobacco Free Islands (PPTFI), Pacific Partners For Tobacco Free Islands: Weaving Together Our Resources and Cultures to Address Tobacco Use. One of the challenges with tobacco control in the USAPI is limited data, however, existing data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) combined with anecdotal information indicate that tobacco usage rates in the Pacific are higher than the United States national average.
The briefing included keynote  speakers Ambassador Heresy Kyota, the Republic of Palau Ambassador to the United States, along with Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Legacy staffer and Advisor to PPTFI, Laura Hamasaka and George Cruz PPTFI Chair also spoke at the event, provided concrete examples of tobacco control successes in the USAPI.
With the long-term goal of increasing long term support for tobacco control in the USAPI, Ambassador Kyota presented information on the Palau's relationship with the United States as a Freely Associated State and the challenges and successes with their tobacco control efforts. Dr. Koh also talked about the commitment that HHS has towards tobacco control work in the USAPI including various grant awards as well as his first visit to the USAPI in the spring of 2012. Hamasaka and Cruz spoke about the influence of faith-leaders, government, women's groups, youth, and community coalitions. A Pacific Health Gathering is scheduled for October 2013 in Honolulu, HI.
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Banner Ads Can Motivate Latinos Smokers to Quit Using Online Resources
More than 60 percent of Latinos (32 million) are online-projected to increase to 70 percent by 2014 -and almost half of online Latinos (45 percent) have used the Internet to search for health information. Although a substantial percentage of American Latinos use the Internet, they have not engaged in web-based cessation programs as readily as other racial/ethnic subgroups.
A new paper, titled "Online Advertising to Reach and Recruit Latino Smokers to an Internet Cessation Program: Impact and Costs" recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research investigated whether online advertising is an effective strategy to recruit online Latino smokers to a smoking cessation website, and which message characteristics were important in reaching this audience. The study developed four Spanish-language online banner advertisements designed to promote a free Spanish-language smoking cessation website and examined their relative effectiveness in reaching and recruiting Latino smokers to the site.
Overall, the results demonstrated that online advertising can be an efficient and cost-effective approach to reach and recruit Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the U.S. to a web-based cessation program. During the 4-month study period, 24,822 individuals responded to banner advertising; of those, 500 registered on the BecomeAnEX Spanish-language smoking cessation website. The most efficient and cost effective banner ad approach yielded 210 registrants in 2 months at a cost of $73-$79 per person which compares favorably to more traditional recruitment approaches. The study also found that it is important to consider images that speak directly to smokers as well as culturally relevant and appealing elements in designing online advertising for Latino smokers in the U.S.
Click here to read the study.
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Awarding the Youth Champions of Tobacco Control
The tobacco control community is ripe with young activists who are committed to making change, one community at a time. Many, starting in their teens, have made impressive strides in local and national efforts to stem the tobacco epidemic. This year Legacy recognized them at the 2012 National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH) in Kansas City, MO, with the first-ever Legacy Youth Activism Awards.
The Trailblazer Award recognizes activists for outstanding and continuous commitment to tobacco control from their teens through young adulthood, and was presented to two Legacy Youth Activism Program alumni.
- Gustavo Torrez has been involved in the movement for 17 years, starting as a youth advocate with STAND (Sacramento Taking Action Against Nicotine) in Sacramento, CA. Gustavo worked on issues including educating youth and young adults about hookah tobacco; countering the tobacco industry's ta
 rgeting and marketing in bars and nightclubs; and cessation programming on and off college campuses and more. Torrez now serves as Program Manager for the Network for LGBT Health Equity in Boston, MA, a program of The Fenway Institute at Fenway Community Health. - A a 6th grader, Jessica Davis became an active member of Oklahoma Students Working Against Tobacco. She has advocated for smoke-free parks and clean indoor air ordinances, as well as for her local public school and eventually her college campus to go smoke-free. Davis currently serves as a Legacy Youth Activism Fellow and is the Youth Liaison to the Legacy Board of Directors.
The Champion Award was awarded to local young tobacco control program coordinators for their outstanding commitment to advancing youth leadership in tobacco control.
- Nicole Sutton of Hawaii is the Project Director for REAL: Hawaii Youth Movement Exposing the Tobacco Industry at University of Hawaii-Manoa. In addition she serves as the co-facilitator for the Global Youth Action on Tobacco Network and is a National Steering Committee Member with The LGBT Network for Health Equity. Over the years, she has worked with thousands of youth around the world on tobacco control issues in community organizing, counter-marketing, legislative advocacy, youth empowerment, and leadership development.
- Genine Perez of Arkansas began her work with primarily youth populations as the Statewide Arkansas Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI) Program Director of the Tobacco Control Youth Board in 2003. Under her direction and through the work of new youth recruits, the grassroots counter-marketing campaign the YES (Youth Extinguishing Smoking) Team came to life, as she works with coordinators from across the country finding unique and innovative ways to engage youth. She has served on numerous committees and boards, including an appointment from the governor of Arkansas on the Arkansas Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Advisory Committee.
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Indiana Workers Get the Tools They Need to Quit Smoking
The state of Indiana - whose adult smoking rate is higher than the national average - loses $2.62 billion in smoking-caused productivity losses each year. In order to save lives and money, the Wellness Council of Indiana, which promotes healthy lifestyles and activities at worksites throughout the state, is partnering with Legacy's EXcampaignto bring smoking cessation to area businesses.
Funded by a tobacco grant from the Indiana State Department of Health, the Wellness Council of Indiana developed a tobacco cessation tool designed to support employers' efforts to implement and manage tobacco-free policies and offer a step-by-step program to help employees overcome nicotine addiction.
Referred to as the "QUIT NOW Tool," much of the program content mirrors the EX plan and directs smokers to get additional information at BecomeAnEX.org, as well as join the online EX community. The program is scheduled to be implemented at Indiana-based businesses this Fall, eventually reaching employees across the state of Indiana and inspiring them to start re-learning life without cigarettes. For more information about the Wellness Council of Indiana, visit www.wellnessindiana.org.
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A Night Above the City: Stunning Views for an Elevated Purpose
Young professionals in New York City gathered on September 12th to celebrate and support longer healthier lives. The annual fundraising event was hosted by Legacy's Young Professionals Committee, in an effort to raise awareness and much-needed financial support for foundation programs and initiatives that work to save lives each day.
Thanks to presenting sponsor Grey New York, young professionals enjoyed stunning views for an elevated purpose. Proceeds from the event and silent auction benefit Legacy's work with Head Start, which encourages healthy living environments for children. Legacy and Head Start are working together among low-SES families - which have a higher smoking prevalence - to increase awareness of the health consequences of tobacco use and Head Start's capacity to provide cessation resources, as well as reduce children's exposure to secondhand smoke.
For more information on joining Legacy's NYC Young Professionals Committee or to find out about future events, please contact Gabrielle Markand at gmarkand@legacyforhealth.org.
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