– truth, the national youth smoking prevention campaign from the American Legacy Foundation, recently selected 14 young adults from across the country to serve as crew members for its annual summer tour. More than 1,400 young people submitted applications for a spot on the tour and a chance to become involved in the life-saving cause of tobacco-use prevention. The 14 selected crew members, two of which are Asian American, represent a cross-section of the types of youth that the truth® tour will encounter as it travels the country from late June to late August.
Most of these young adults have experienced the harmful effects of tobacco use in their own families, from asthma to terminal cancer. The youth all share a passion to share facts with their peers so they make an informed choice about tobacco use.
Felix Lamorena, 24, joins the truth® tour to interact with teens on a peer-to-peer basis about tobacco issues. Lamorena, a Filipino American from Norwalk, Connecticut, is the younger brother of a smoker and remembers the first time he caught his brother smoking. Now a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Lamorena’s own experience seeing family members smoke has made him passionate and motivated to keep young people from smoking.
Research shows that about 10 percent of adult Asian Americans smoke. Cigarette smoking is a major cause of cancer, which is the leading cause of death among Asian Americans. In addition, nearly half of Asian American smokers start between ages 18 and 21.
Every year, truth crews connect with more than 500,000 teens, allowing them to experience the truth® campaign firsthand and get information to help them make informed decisions about smoking and the marketing strategies of the tobacco industry. This year, two crews and their signature orange “truth trucks” will make more than 60 stops across 25 states, as they travel to some of the season’s hottest teen-oriented events. One crew will spend the summer traveling with the Vans Warped Tour, an annual summer rock festival.
The second group of truth® crew members will appear at different venues including:
AST Dew Tour, an action sports tour, featuring the top action-sports athletes in the world competing for the highly coveted Dew Cup in skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross.
ROCK THE BELLS 2009, an international hip hop festival featuring performances by leading artists including Nas, The Roots, Common and more.
Select Simon Malls throughout the country. The Simon dTOUR Live (Rball) is one of the biggest teen mall tours in the country, featuring BMX bike demos, hot music acts and interactive games and contests outside these ever-popular teen destinations.
truth® is also making impromptu, unannounced appearances at popular teen-oriented events such as music events, skateparks, beaches and more in cities like New York and others.
The truth crew members are talented and charismatic young adults who engage in peer-to-peer interaction with teens who are attending concerts and events. The fun and engaging atmosphere makes it easier for truth crew members to discuss tobacco issues in a non-preachy way. Most tour stops feature the distinctive orange truth® truck and zone, which form a natural gathering place. In the zone, crew members hold fashion shows, dance contests and freestyle rap “battles”; teach DJ lessons through “Scratch Academy” (a group of DJs who school newcomers on the fundamentals of DJ’ing, scratching and mixing music); play games and distribute truth “gear” – fashionable and trendy items reflecting anti-tobacco messages.
Efforts like the tour are clearly working in helping achieve its broader goals: in February 2009 a study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that the truth® campaign was directly responsible for preventing 450,000 teens from starting to smoke between the years 2000 and 2004.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
