The Epic Battle
2007
Central East Flavored Lies Event
October 27th, 2007
On October 27th, 2007, the Central East regional event ‘Flavoured Lies’ was held at the Barrie Molson Centre. The event’s goal was to spread awareness about flavoured tobacco products. One of the objectives was to show that the tobacco industry markets its deadly products towards youth by using colours and flavours associated with candy.
The event involved 80 youth from the Central East region. The Peterborough YAA provided two presentations at the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit: the first presentation was on how volunteers would be involved and what the purpose of the YAAs is; and the second presentation was on how the trivia wheel should be used and the benefits of using a game. After the orientation the YAAs headed to the Barrie Molson Centre to showcase the Flavoured Lies games and messages.
Norwood Fair
October 6th, 2007
In the fall of 2007, the YAA attended the Norwood fair showcasing the Flavoured Lies trivia wheel. The Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge health unit joined us at this event. We wanted to educate and spread awareness of tobacco industry marketing strategies to the youth of Peterborough and Peterborough County. The two YAA’s collaborated and made the event successful by bringing a trivia wheel, four mascots, a display and a carbon monoxide detector. This event was successful in reaching both a young and older audience. There was little media at this event because of the unfavourable weather but the audience was receptive to the Flavoured Lies messaging.
Chalkin’ it to the streets
July 31st, 2007
After the summer camps, the YAA had a “Chalkin’ it to the Streets” event. The YAA with the help of 7 volunteers and other staff from the health unit drew 102 outlines of dead bodies through out Peterborough. The outlines were drawn mostly on sidewalks in the busier parts of Peterborough. The dead bodies represented the 102 Canadians that die every day from tobacco use.
The event was a great success. Many of the Peer-leaders had good discussions with pedestrians, and most of the people were very positive and supportive of our cause. We also got a lot of positive media attention. The event team leader had an interview with CHEX TV. Peterborough This Week and the Peterborough Examiner also attended the event.
Tobacco Prevention Skits
July-August 2007
This summer, we went to local camps and performed two plays. The plays entitled “The Treasure Hunt” and “Sir Smokes A lot and The Fantastics” were as much fun for us to perform as it was for the kids to watch. We enjoyed all the support we got from the community, and our local news station CHEX came out and filmed the plays for a ‘To Your Health’ segment.
The plays were themed around pirates and superheroes because we thought that these characters would grab the young kids’ attention. The first play about pirates followed a young pirate, Walker D Plank, who entered a pirate games competition. The young hero had to face off his best friend, Esmerelda Sassafrass, who had been influenced by a much older and ‘cooler’ Captain Black Lung Diaper Fish and his pet monkey, Screech. In the end ‘Hip Hop Humphrey’ and Screech trick Esmerelda Sassafrass into opening a fake treasure chest filled with gross smoking related objects. She then learned how bad smoking was for her. Walker D Plant won the treasure hunt and became the Captain of Black Lung’s ship.
The second play focused on the evils of the tobacco industry. After Hip-Hop Humphrey, the healthy bear that travels the world educating children on the dangers of smoking, is kidnapped it is up to the Fantastics to save him and stop the mischievous Sir Smokes A lot from activating his evil mind influence machine before it’s too late.
Central East Integrity Event
March 31st, 2007
On March 31st, 2007, we met up with approximately 80 youth and performed a drop dead and dramatic skit. The performance consisted of grim reapers, coffins, banners and 44 youth to drop dead. The coffins were a reminder of what can happen to you when you are targeted by the tobacco industry, and the 44 youth dropping dead were to show that 44 people die each day because of tobacco related illness. We then took off our masks to show that we are not faceless targets of the tobacco industry.
Let’s Talk Integrity Tour
February 12th -14th in the local school
17th at Hello Kelly KAOS concert
24th at the galaxy
Integrity: When you stick to a moral or ethical code.
In its business principles, Imperial Tobacco says “We believe our business should keep high standards of behavior and integrity.”
So the tobacco industry says they have integrity?! Ha, I don’t think so! A company that markets its deadly products towards youth could not possibly have integrity. We thought this integrity idea should be addressed, so we, and 6 other YAA’s across Ontario, developed an event around it. First, we went into Peterborough high schools on February 12th to the 14th. We brought a display, a ‘test your tobacco IQ’ trivia game and a banner. The banner read, “The tobacco industry says it has integrity? So why do they continue to target youth? No more deaths! We, the youth of Ontario, are no longer listening to the lies of the tobacco industry.” We had hoped to get signatures on the banner but we never thought we would get as many as we did! We also went to a Hello Kelly concert hosted by KAOS and had a display at galaxy. We used Test your Tobacco IQ, a game designed to teach youth about the tobacco industry. It was a huge hit and we couldn’t keep the free decks of cards in stock.
Click here to see our events from 2006...