2010 Kick Butts Counter Marketing Competition Winner
2010 KICK BUTTS DAY ANTI-TOBACCO CITY-WIDE POSTER COMPETITION
“What would you do if you were being targeted?” was the theme of the 2010 Kick Butts Day event organized by Raising Hope, Inc., a community based non-profit organization working in partnership with the Tobacco Control Program of the Rhode Island Department of Health. The event took place on Saturday, March 20, 2010, at Alfred Lima Elementary School, 222 Daboll Street, Providence, RI and it attracted more than 200 youth and families.
The occassion was marked wih speeches from youth, guest, and staff of Raising Hope; Step-dances from youth groups; anti-tobacco rap lyrics and poetry; food and refreshment.
In his welcome address to the audience, Executive Director of Raising Hope, Isaac Ogbomo emphasized the importance of engaging young people in the control of sales and marketing of tobacco products to young people in Providence. The youth, he noted, are seen as the future customer base of the tobacco industry; as a result, tobacco companies spend billions of dollars advertising their products in ways that appeal to youth in particular. Mr. Ogbomo emphasized that young people are daily targeted by tobacco companies through retail outlets, such as convenience stores, gas stations and super markets in their neighborhoods and school zones. He urged the audience to join the Raising Awareness to Prevent Smoking (RAPS) program in their efforts to get our decision makers involved in bringing a stop to the open display of tobacco advertisements in our community!