This curriculum was the basis of the educational presentations last fall. Encouraging children to use knowledge and skills to diffuse tobacco advertising and resist the pressure to use tobacco products is important to their immediate and future health. A contest, such as this one, provides a valuable opportunity for students to revisit and utilize these skills. Your school can participate in the contest even if it did not participate in last fall's educational presentations. All submissions should capture the theme of countering tobacco advertising.
Tobacco advertising influences the decisions of young people regarding tobacco use.
One way to fight this influence is through the creation of counter advertisements. These counter advertisements seek to raise awareness of how destructive tobacco use is and how tobacco messages reach young children. Tobacco companies infiltrate markets that appeal to kids with their logos, information, brand names, sex appeal, attempts at creating normalcy, party atmosphere, and visibility. Using some of the same formats tobacco companies have used in the past to target kids, the contest urges students to create their own advertisements that tell the truth about tobacco. The song or rap should be no more than five minutes long.