Scarcnet News Summaries (Advocacy Institute)
Florida Youth Create Anti-Smoking Messages Through Art
Length: pages
Abstract
A new Florida program called Artful Truth is aimed at teaching fourth, fifth and sixth graders about tobacco industry advertising. In what supporters call a "healthy propaganda project," students are exposed to tobacco industry advertising tactics and then create art to convey their own messages about tobacco use. About 2,000 students from 106 schools and youth groups have participated in the program. Projects have included collages, short films and sculptures. "If kids understand manipulation, then they will make better decisions," says Cathy Leff, director of the Wolfsonian Museum, which administers the $1.4 million program. "They won't buy into that smoking is cool, as the ads convey to them." Artful Truth is part of the $70 million Florida Tobacco Pilot Program established to develop ways to prevent underage tobacco use.
Source: Warren Richey, "Kids Create Art With A Message: Don't Smoke," CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, August 18, 1999, p. 1.