TobaccofreeCA.com looks like the most recent media campaign from California. I found about it by chance by finding a clip (Caution Tape) on YouTube that provided the url for TobaccoFreeCA.com.
There is plenty of information on the site and one additional clip but no information about where to see the others. It is strange that there is apparently no place on line to see all the clips produced by the California Health Department. How come? Here is another clip I found by chance: also on YouTube
Why did we make this ad?
Decades of tobacco
marketing and propaganda have obscured our perception of the tobacco
business. So much so, that even though the tobacco industry
manufactures an addictive product that kills when used as intended,
over 75% of Californians believe the tobacco industry is just like any
other business.
This ad challenges viewers to reconsider their opinions of the industry by depicting just one example of tobacco companies' deceptive nature. Despite the tobacco industry's claims to be socially responsible, tobacco marketing still influences youth. Clearly, in order to replace the 440,000 people its product kills every year, the tobacco industry needs to recruit new unsuspecting smokers. We can undo tobacco by rejecting it wherever we can and by helping to prevent the next generation from following the tobacco industry's deceptive path.
Key Facts
While the tobacco industry claims that cigarette ads don't influence youth, many companies still use marketing tactics developed in the 50s and 60s that have been proven to attract youth.
- Philip Morris still runs the Marlboro Man campaign that was developed specifically to appeal to youth.
- 88% of people who have ever smoked tried their first cigarette by the age of 18.
- While less than half of all smokers over 25 buy the top three advertised brands, 87% of youth smokers choose the 3 most historically heavily advertised brands (Marlboro, Camel & Newport).
- The tobacco industry is repeatedly caught in mediums that reach kids - in 2003, the Tobacco Enforcement Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General caught four tobacco companies advertising in the school editions of Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report. In 2002, RJR was found guilty of advertising in youth-oriented magazines.
- A 2001 Stanford University study of convenience stores in California found that nearly half of the stores had tobacco ads in stores placed at kids' eye level - 3 feet high or lower. 23% of the stores had cigarettes placed within 6 inches of candy.
- Every day, 4,800 kids aged 11-17 try their first cigarette and every day, roughly 2,000 kids under the age of 18 become regular smokers.
Tracking historical marketing events shows that the tobacco industry has consistently exploited vulnerable groups:
- Philip Morris took advantage of the women's liberation movement of the 1960s by launching Virginia Slims. Its "You've Come A Long Way Baby" campaign promoted cigarettes as a symbol of independence.
- Similarly, menthol brands took advantage of the Civil Rights movement by targeting African Americans with messages that align cigarettes with freedom and social equality.
- With sales slowly declining in the US, the tobacco industry is now marketing cigarettes as a symbol of the "American Dream" in developing countries where there are weak restrictions and limited education, let alone tobacco education. China is now the largest market for cigarettes, and few chinese know that smoking causes cancer.
- In 1995, R.J. Reynolds developed a marketing plan called Project SCUM, which targeted disadvantaged urban populations in San Francisco, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexuals, homeless and low-income individuals.
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