The Metro Public Health Department’s Youth Advisory Board have participated in the #TobaccoTargetsMe Project which allowed students, through the use of social media, to show how they witness ‘Big Tobacco’ targeting them every day.
The project is part of Kick Butts Day, a nationwide initiative that empowers youth to stop tobacco use.
The Youth Advisory Board showed the results of the #TobaccoTargetsMe Project with a photo display at the Lentz Public Health Center lobby on March 28.
This was the first of many projects that the Youth Advisory Board will participate in to protect kids from tobacco, including educating their peers about tobacco companies’ deceptive marketing practices and the dangers of tobacco use.
“The tobacco companies continue to market to youth,” said Peter Richards, Youth Advisory member. “We want to tell the youth of Nashville that there is nothing cool about using tobacco products.”
“Kids are a powerful part of the solution to reducing youth tobacco use,’ said Rebecca Morris, tobacco coordinator for the Metro Public Health Department. “The Youth Advisory Board’s participation is important as we continue to work to educate Nashville’s youth, and all people, about the dangers of smoking.”
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, killing more than 400,000 people every year.
Every day, more than 4,000 kids try their first cigarettes. Another 2,000 kids become addicted smokers, one-third of whom will die prematurely as a result.
The #TobaccoTargetsMe installation can also be seen on the Metro Public Health Department Instagram Page at <@nashvillehealth>.
