Press Release

Kick Butts Day 2001: Stand Up and Tell Big Tobacco-Game Over

Young people from Union County are joining thousands of kids across the country who are taking part in Kick Butts Day, a nationwide initiative that makes kids leaders in the effort to stop youth tobacco use. This year’s slogan is Stand Up and Tell Big Tobacco Game Over. As part of the Kick Butts Day celebration, Union County High Schools are holding tobacco awareness activities the week of April 2-8^th to share with their peers tobacco information and expose the big tobacco companies’ lies.

“We are very please that this year, each of the three local high schools is taking part in the Kick Butts Day campaign,” said Julie Armstrong, Health Educator for the Union County Health Department. One of the most effective means of communicating tobacco issues to youth is to involve them in the message and delivery. This year’s message targeting big tobacco companies allows the youth to expose the truth on tobacco marketing and demand the tobacco companies stop targeting youth with their marketing campaigns.

Thousands of elementary, middle and high school students across the country are organizing Kick Butts Day events for April 4 to fight youth tobacco use. Young people will participate in a variety of Kick Butts Day activities such as surveying tobacco advertising in their communities; lobbying local officials to support anti-tobacco ordinances; and tossing caps, hats, jackets and other items carrying tobacco brand names into giant dumpsters. In 2000, tens of thousands of kids carried out more than 1,600 events all over the United States.

 “Kids are a powerful part of the solution to reducing youth tobacco use, not just part of the problem,” said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids, which co-founded Kick Butts Day in conjunction with New York City Public Advocate Mark Green. “They prove this nationwide on Kick Butts Day by speaking out against tobacco with one powerful voice.”