Tobacco Documents Online

Copyright 1993 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., All rights reserved. ABC NEWS SHOW: WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS JULY 1, 1993 LENGTH: 4061 words BODY: ANNOUNCER: From ABC, this is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Sitting in tonight, Tom Jarriel. TOM JARRIEL: And in our next segment, a powerful message to black smokers about kicking the habit. [Commercial break] TOM JARRIEL: The government is launching a new effort to reach the seven million black Americans who smoke. The message is stark and simple - you're dying for nothing. This time the message is contained in some very powerful images which the Centers for Disease Control hopes will counteract the impact of cigarette advertising. Here's ABC's Beth Nissen. BETH NISSEN: Those in mostly poor, mostly black communities say it is hard to miss the signs. 1 ST AFRICAN=AMERICAN: They have a lot of young African-Americans with cigarettes in their hands and it's just making it look like it's okay to smoke. 2ND AFRICAN-AMERICAN: And every sign around here, it's all nothing but smoking cigarettes. BETH NISSEN: What's the message being given to black Americans? 2ND AFRICAN-AMERICAN: It's okay for you to die. BETH NISSEN: In fact, African-Americans do smoke more cigarettes and suffer higher rates of lung cancer than any other population group in the country, and they see four times as many cigarette ads in their communities as whites do. They're about to see a very different kind of message from the US government. ANNOUNCER: [PSA] These people died because of their beliefs. These people also died because of their beliefs - beliefs like they couldn't quit smoking. But were those beliefs worth dying for? BETH NISSEN: The ad campaign's designers believe cigarette addiction is one more struggle for blacks and that using,the images of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X can raise a familiar cry in black communities - "We shall overcolne".

DR. ROBERT ROBINSON, CDC: In this case, the thing that needs to be overcome is the addiction and the habit of smoking a cigarette. BETH NISSEN: The public service campaign will be on television, radio and inner-city billboards this summer. But public health officials say it will be hard to compete with $4 billion in tobacco advertising a year. Beth Nissen, ABC News, New York. -