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truth® EMBARKS ON 8TH ANNUAL SUMMER TOUR
6/29/2007
Links with VANS Warped Tour, SCREAMFEST ‘07, BALL4REAL and fuse
Washington, DC; June 11, 2007 – truth®, the nation’s largest smoking prevention campaign for youth, will begin its 8th annual nationwide summer tour on June 29 in Los Angeles, CA. The truth® tour spreads information about the addictiveness of tobacco products, the adverse health effects of tobacco use, and the social consequences of smoking; and, ultimately, counteracts the marketing tactics used by the tobacco industry by giving teens the knowledge needed to make informed choices.
Throughout the summer, truth® will travel with two of the season’s hottest teen-oriented music tours: the Vans Warped Tour®, featuring rock acts like Red Jump Suit Apparatus, The Used, The Almost (all on Billboard’s top 20) and, for the first time, SCREAMFEST ‘07, headlined by platinum-selling rapper, T.I., and Grammy-nominated R&B artist Ciara. Fourteen young adult truth® “crew members” will crisscross the country, making more than 60 stops in 49 cities across 29 states.
truth® will also be on the road this year with the Ball4Real World Tour, a basketball-themed event where local players across the country can compete with established hoops stars. truth® crew members will make eleven stops with Ball4Real. The tour also emphasizes community outreach by having players make stops at YMCAs, boys and girls’ clubs and community centers.
The crew members were selected from a pool of more than 1700 applicants to represent truth® on these tours and to engage in peer-to-peer interaction with teens attending the concerts. Crew members represent a cross-section of the types of youth the truth® tour will encounter as it tours the country in signature orange “truth® trucks“. At each stop, crew members hold fashion shows, dance contests, freestyle rap “battles”, and DJ lessons through “Scratch Academy” (a group of DJs who school newcomers on the fundamentals of DJ’ing, scratching and mixing music). The fun and engaging atmosphere makes it easier for truth® crew members to discuss tobacco issues in a non-preachy way.
truth® crew members will again be featured on the fuse cable channel this year as fuse and truth® extend a successful partnership from 2006. Last summer, the truth® Vans crew was highlighted on the fuse program Warped: Inside & Out – the highest-rated show in fuse’s lineup of programming for the year. This summer, a series of video vignettes will feature life on the Vans Warped tour, where more than 800 people from bands and support crews to roadies – travel across the country all summer as a portable community.
Each Wednesday, fuse devotes its entire programming lineup to “Warped Wednesday”, featuring shows dedicated to the tour. The video vignettes will feature a documentary-styled, on the ground look at the tour. The presence of the truth® crew and truck in the vignettes is another way for teens to get a real-life sense of life as a crew member, devoted to educating teens about tobacco use in a cool, fun setting. Some of the content captured on camera will be available exclusively online at http://www.fuse.tv/.
“truth® is exactly the kind of tobacco awareness campaign the Institute of Medicine (IOM) referred to in its recent report, citing the need for supporting effective campaigns at the national and state levels,” said Cheryl Healton Dr. P.H., President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation®. “Last year, the truth® tour reached more than 750,000 teens across the country. With the tobacco industry spending more than 36 million dollars every day on marketing, it is imperative that truth® continue to bring its message directly to young people at events across the country where teens naturally gather and interact.”
In the report, entitled Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation, the IOM addressed the nation’s tobacco epidemic, finding that America must implement strategies that effectively reduce and prevent smoking and combine those efforts with a changed regulatory and policy landscape to fight the nation’s number-one cause of preventable death. The report, presented to Congress, specifically mentions the truth® campaign, and “concludes that a national, youth-oriented media campaign should be a permanent component of the nation’s strategy to reduce tobacco.”
Each stop on the tour features impromptu games and giveaways of the latest truth® “gear.” This year, the truth® -branded gift items include: rain ponchos, drawstring bags, and t-shirts. All of the gear was created using images cool enough for teens to wear, yet the items still spread important messages about tobacco use and the tobacco industry.
The goal of such giveaways is to create innovative and fashion-forward gear items that empower young people with knowledge and a quest for answers.
truth® is a multi-dimensional campaign, featuring advertising (television, radio, print, online), Web sites and interactive elements, events, and grassroots outreach through summer tours. The summer program will begin online at http://www.thetruth.com/, which receives approximately 200,000 visitors per month. Users can learn about truth®, meet truth® crew members and DJs who will be out on tour, find out where upcoming events will be taking place, and view updates from tour stops. Free tickets to events can also be won online at http://www.thetruth.com/.
The current advertising campaign, called “documentary” for the style in which the ads are shot, features one correspondent and a camera crew investigating the absurdity behind some ideas from Big Tobacco. Starting mid-April 2007, the campaign rolled out with two television ads, called Puppet and Milk, as well as new interactive components on the award-winning Web site, www.thetruth.com. Additional TV spots will roll out throughout the life of the campaign, through December 2007. The television spots air on popular youth channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, Spike, fuse, The N and BET, among others. Print advertisements followed in popular youth magazines in May.
For more information on the Vans Warped Tour, visit http://www.warpedtour.com/
For more information on SCREAMFEST '07, log onto www.screamstar.com
For more information on BALL4REAL, visit www.ball4real.com/tour.php
Arnold Worldwide/Boston and Crispin Porter + Bogusky/Miami are responsible for the design and gear for the summer program. GTM…It means a lot (Atlanta), manages truth® crew recruiting and operations, and the ad*itive (Philadelphia), a marketing communications company, oversees public relations. Mobile Media Enterprises of Atlanta provides all logistical and asset support.
truth®, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, the health effects and the social consequences of smoking, and allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products. The campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation®, which was founded as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the tobacco industry and 46 states. Payments to the American Legacy Foundation® are made on behalf of the settling states.
Efforts like the tour are clearly working with young people, as truth® continues to be a relevant and driving force in teen culture. Research has found the truth® campaign accelerated the decline in youth smoking rates between 2000-2002. In fact, 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking during these years is attributable directly to the truth® campaign.
In 2003, the American Legacy Foundation® received what is likely its final payment from the National Public Education Fund established by the Master Settlement Agreement. Despite the success of the truth® campaign, the campaign now faces an unprecedented funding challenge. Youth smoking rates are at historic lows, but without truth® this decline could end or even reverse itself. If truth® dies, it won’t die alone.
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Contact: Stephen Winkler, 215.525.1407 (Direct), swinkler@ad-itive.com