From: Kylee Jones
Columbus
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 6.2 million students in the U.S. currently use a tobacco product, including nearly a third of all high school students. It’s really easy to see how we got here: flavored electronic cigarettes.
Whether it’s the bus to school, the parking lot, the classroom, or the bathroom, e-cigarettes are practically everywhere. Even if you can avoid it in school, it’s impossible to avoid the Juul ads and the rows of Puff Bars when you just want to get a bag of chips from the corner store on your way home.
On April 1, the V.A.P.E. Club (Voicing a Positive Environment) is participating in the Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action to say enough.
Why April Fool’s Day? The tobacco industry peddles products that addict, sicken and kill. So how do they get people to use products like that? They have to fool them. They use youth-oriented marketing to make it seem cool, brightly-colored packaging to make it seem fun, and sweet flavors to make it seem harmless — all to hook another generation.
Now, they’re trying to position themselves as “responsible” and “reformed,” as they vigorously fight efforts to reduce tobacco use. They’ve even taken advantage of COVID-19 to push their products! Everything from the marketing to the flavors to the design is tailored to target and addict kids, and we’re rallying to fight back in unison with more than a thousand other communities across the U.S.
We plan to take over social media to demonstrate how the tobacco industry is targeting the younger generation, and we encourage you to follow us on Instagram (@vapefreebcsc) and share your personal reasons to take down tobacco.
We won’t let the tobacco industry succeed in addicting a younger generation, and we’ll fight every step of the way to prevent them targeting the next one. We hope that our community and elected leaders stand with us.
