Tobacco statistics “What’s the deal with tobacco?” asks a Fresh Empire graphic. With this question, it launches into the ingredients found in cigarettes, along with the health and social side effects of smoking. Images on Fresh Empire’s website show fresh- faced youth looking directly into the camera as a way to deliver a straightforward and relatable source of information for young people. Fresh Empire does not rely on imagery alone. It also provides poignant statistics and cites research conducted by the HHS and Internal Agency for Research on Cancer, among other organizations: •Cigarette smoking causes 480,000 deaths per year. • Smokers die, on average, 10 years younger than non-smokers. • 16 million people have at least one disease caused by smoking. A graphic on the site shows what Fresh Empire calls “all sorts of nasty chemicals” in tobacco, along with unsavory facts about those substances. Listed first is carbon monoxide, which is found in car exhaust. Cigarettes contain arsenic, Fresh Empire informs readers, which is used in pesticides. And there’s benzene, found in gasoline. Another header states simply “keep your cash,” which leads to a statistic that smoking half a pack a day costs an average of $1,000 per year. “That’s a lot of cash to blow on cigarettes,” Fresh Empire states. “What would you rather spend $1,000 on?”
nti-smoke Signals
When you are addicted to tobacco, you are not in control. So says the main message of Fresh Empire, an Internet and TV campaign designed to inspire teens and young adults to stay away from cigarettes. Fresh Empire’s website—freshempire.betobaccofree.hhs.gov—has information and informational videos all about the consequences of smoking. Here, young people can learn about the chemical content of cigarettes, health risks associated with tobacco use and social drawbacks. Fresh Empire, sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), puts on events with performers such as rappers Silento and Stuey Roc, who deliver positive, tobacco-free messages. “Being fresh is about yourself.The empire is yourself, man,” says radio personality ET in video footage of a Fresh Empire concert. And Rock had this to say about tobacco use on a Fresh Empire video: “Smoking is not cool.” “Being fresh is about yourself. The empire is yourself, man.” - Radio personality ET Fresh Empire’s anti-tobacco appeal is all about staying independent
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