Create a buzz about the true impact of tobacco. Choose a statistic (like 7, the number of Nebraskans who die every day from tobacco-related diseases) and make at least 100 copies of it. When no one else is at the school (or other facility), post it everywhere. In the bathrooms, every classroom, the hallways, and the lunch line . . . everywhere. (Just be sure you ask for permission first!) Now don’t tell anyone what that number means. Leave the number up all day or for multiple days . . . long enough to get everyone curious. Then announce the significance of the number at a rally or big event.
Time:
First Meeting:
Determine your message, set a date, and obtain permission to post the flyers. Designate a speaker to make the announcement at the rally or big event.
Second Meeting:
Create and post your signs everywhere.
Third Meeting:
Clean up.
Planning:
- Ask permission before posting all the flyers.
- Remember to keep everything hush-hush until your announcement.
- Let your local media and No Limits know about your event ahead of time.
- Plan a clean-up meeting.
Words of Wisdom:
- Have a simple message with a number that relates to home.
- Cut out your number in construction paper, print it off in different fonts, tape it to the floor, write it on a couple of sheets of toilet paper or paper towels . . . get creative!
- Remember, we want to focus on how the industry sells a deadly product as cool and fun. The industry downplays and denies many harsh realities of tobacco.
- During your announcement, talk about some specific things the industry has done or said, and then invite youth to join the movement in fighting Big Tobacco.