Kick Butts Day

Unless trends change, 5 million American kids alive today eventually could be killed by tobacco.

Antismoking advocates say that's because each day in the United States, more than 3,000 young people under 18 become regular smokers, and a third of them ultimately will die from tobacco-related causes.

But on March 24th - dubbed Kick Butts Day - kids around the country did their part to change those statistics.

Kick Butts Day is the day when young people take part in the day-to-day fight against tobacco.  The group provides resources and suggested activities for young people interested in organizing their own protests against smoking.

Started in 1995, the youth-oriented anti-smoking day include kids spreading garbage bags on the ground to represent the body bags of the thousands of people who die each day from tobacco-related causes, kids staging plays and musicals and even mock funerals for the Marlboro Man, and kids holding rallies at state capitals.

It's essential for youngsters to have a role in fighting what he calls the tobacco industry's efforts to recruit them as smokers to replace the 400,000 American smokers who die each year.

But the tobacco industry denies it's trying to entice youngsters to smoke.

Tobacco companies spent a record $8.24 billion on advertising and promotion in 1999, according to information released by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.  That's an increase of $1.51 billion, or 22.3 percent, over the preceding year.

But the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids maintains that much of the industry's current advertising thrust still is aimed at youngsters through store advertising and promotions to reduce cigarette prices.

Smoking may be a matter of choice for adults, but children have a more difficult time making that kind of decision on their own - especially when they're bombarded with advertising that portrays smoking as cool and hip.

But Kick Butts Day sends a message to lawmakers that kids expect their government to protect them from tobacco advertising.

It's also when they get the antismoking message out to their peers.

It's important to involve teenagers because they are the ones who speak to kids their own age.  Kids tend to listen to their peers rather than adults.  So, if they see kids their own age within their class getting involved in activities like this, it will encourage them to not smoke and to be active within their community.

Need more facts? The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says:

• 34.8 percent of American high school students are smokers.
• American youngsters consume 900 million packs of cigarettes a year, which yields tobacco companies revenues of $1.5 billion.
• 15.5 million American children are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.

To find out more about Kick Butts Day and the campaign against smoking by young people, visit the Kick Butts Day Web site.