News and Events
Local SWAT Youth “Kick Butts” in March!
March 8, 2018
Kick Butts Day, an initiative of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, encourages youth to reject the tobacco industry's deceptive marketing and stay tobacco free.
In Indian River County, the SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) Club at Sebastian River Middle School will be asking everyone to wear turquois to support them getting out the message about Big Tobacco marketing and Kick Butts Day. They are working hard to end tobacco use in their generation! Several students spoke to officials about why Kick Butts Day is so important. They received a Kick Butts Day Proclamation in a ceremony with Council Members from the City of Sebastian.
The tobacco industry uses deceptive marketing tactics to glamorize the use of tobacco including vaping products which contain nicotine. This marketing targets kids to be replacement smokers or vapers, especially adolescents who perceive (because of marketing) that vaping is not as harmful as smoking. Tobacco companies spend $558.8 million each year in Florida alone to aggressively market their harmful products to vulnerable populations, including youth(1).
Each day in the United States, more than 3,200 youth aged 18 years or younger smoke their first cigarette, and an additional 2,100 youth and young adults become daily cigarette smokers(2).
Targeting youth provides companies with replacements for smokers who are quitting or dying. About 90 percent of smokers start before they turn 18 and rarely consider the long-term health consequences of smoking(3). Because of nicotine, the highly addictive drug found in tobacco, three out of four or 75% of youth smokers continue smoking well into adulthood, often with deadly consequences(4). In fact, about half of long-term smokers die prematurely from smoking-related causes(5).
SWAT aims to empower, educate and equip Florida youth to revolt against Big Tobacco. SWAT is a movement of youth working to de-glamorize tobacco use. Their efforts aim to shape tobacco free norms, make tobacco less desirable, less acceptable and less accessible. For more information or to get involved, email Lspurlock@quitdoc.com or visit swatflorida.com.
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(1) Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Cigarette Report for 2015, 2017, See also, FTC, Smokeless Tobacco Report for 2015, 2017. State total is a prorated estimate based on cigarette pack sales in the state.
(2) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.
(3) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.
(4) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking —50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.
(5) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2012.
