Watching me, watching you

 Dates & Venue: Wednesday February 15^th Media City Salford

 Time: Registration at 9.30 am for a 10.00am start – finishing by 4.00pm

 Deadline for Applications: Friday 20^th January 2012

 As part of their Smoke & Mirrors Project, Tobacco Free Futures, in association with NWRYWU, are running an event for young people to highlight the issue of smoking and tobacco use in media aimed at young people aged 13-17.

• Do you work with young people who have the desire to influence policy and make a positive change?
• Do you see how powerful the media is at influencing young people and their choices?
• Do you feel it is wrong for the Tobacco Industry to specifically target young people? 

This is an inaugural event starting a year long programme of activity designed to engage young people in education, events and opportunities around smoking and tobacco use.  We are bringing together experts from the field of tobacco research, marketing and award winning Actors and Directors to share their views and opinions on tobacco in the media, and are offering 60 places to young people aged 13-17 from across the region. We will also be considering the branding and subtle marketing techniques used by tobacco companies to specifically target young people and actively debating the case for plain packaging.

You do not need any prior knowledge of the subject to attend, and we welcome both smokers and non smokers.

 This is a free event however, booking is compulsory as places are limited

 Booking:

If you are working with a group of young people and are interested in applying for places for them to attend this event please complete the booking form attached and return it to Tracy Bailey

 7 Email: info@nwrywu.org.uk or

 * Post: North West Regional Youth Work Unit, Unit 40, Bold Business Park, Bold Lane, St. Helens, Merseyside, WA9 4TX

 Bookings should be returned no later than Friday 20^th January 2012. Places are limited and we want to ensure a spread of young people from across the North West, so we may not be able to guarantee every group a place. You will be informed if you group has received places no later than Friday 27^th January 2012. 

Please Note: Confirmations will be sent by email from Tracy Bailey info@nwrywu.org.uk therefore please include your email address. If you suspect your firewall will reject this as spam, please add info@nwrywu.org.uk  to your ‘safe list.’

 Cost:  The event is free to attend, however the organisers reserve the right to pass on any costs incurred (£30) from any ‘no shows’ on the day of groups or individuals who receive places. Substitutions are welcomed.

 Further Information

If you would like further information please contact Tracy Bailey info@nwrywu.org.uk or 01925 295837.

Children and young people are being fooled by glitzy cigarette packaging with more than a quarter of young smokers making health assumptions based on branding.

Check out the footage and full story from our very own Youth Ambassador,

http://www.bhf.org.uk/media/news-from-the-bhf/plain-packaging.aspx

BOY GEORGE has some words of advice for ADELE after her vocal troubles: give up fags, love.

She had an op on her vocal chords recently and, speaking at the Prince’s Trust Rock Gala this week, George told me: “If you’re a singer and you smoke it really isn’t a great idea.

“I gave up smoking six months ago which was the best thing I ever did. I used to try to convince myself it made me sound jazzier.”

George – who sang with Kate Moss this week after she pledged £20k at another charity gig – admits: “It was very difficult to give up but I’m so glad I did.”

Adele was forced to cancel tour dates and promotional appearances for the rest of the year because of the recurring problem which required surgery earlier this month.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/music/2011/11/27/adele-must-give-up-smoking-warns-boy-george-115875-23590635/#ixzz1f61JMEhe

Anti-smoking campaigners in Japan are accusing one of the world’s leading tobacco companies of marketing products to teenage girls at World Cup volleyball events in Tokyo.

Japan Tobacco’s logo (JT) is on the national team uniforms, court-side digital billboards, TV ads and “gift” packages handed out to schoolgirls, mothers and children entering Yoyogi National Stadium and arenas across Japan during the World Cup, which runs until Dec. 4.

While the United States, European Union and other industrialized countries have long banned tobacco companies from sponsoring sporting events, Japan Tobacco has been a major promoter of volleyball, helping to make the sport popular among schoolgirls. Japan has hosted every World Cup since 1977, and three of the last four world championships.

Japan Tobacco also sponsors a national team starring the country’s top player, Yoshie Takeshita.

Source: Washington Times – 24 November 2011
Link: http://bit.ly/v5UITf

Youngsters who run a group to educate their peers about the dangers of smoking have scooped an award which will help take them to the other side of the world.

W-WEST– which stands for Why Waste Everything Smoking Tobacco? was set up by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde as the first of its kind in Scotland, and is run by six young members. The group’s aim is to get the message out to the youth about the dangers of smoking.

The group has been handed the Crofton Award by the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) in partnership with anti-smoking charity ASH Scotland. It aims to recognise the contribution made by young people towards reducing the harm caused by smoking.

W-WEST Group member Michael Caine, 19, from Cessnock, said: “The aim is to get information out there to the youth about the dangers of smoking. It’s pro-choice – we’re not going to grab you by the throat and say stop smoking.”

Now, with the help of the £1000 prize money, W-WEST are taking their work to South America. They’ll head to Uruguay as part of a partnership with Durham University, to develop a Scottish version of an exhibition called Uruguay Breathes, which compares the life paths of a smoker and a non-smoker. They hope to display their version at Glasgow Science Centre and will work with groups in Uruguay to help them set up their own youth advocacy groups on smoking.

Source: Evening Times, 22 November 2011
Link: http://bit.ly/uBLkrH

Carine Roitfeld regrets using cigarettes in so many of her fashion shoots.

Roitfeld was the editor of French Vogue magazine for ten years, leaving her post in January. Since then she’s embarked on a number of new projects, including penning a tome called Irreverent.

She explained she wishes she’d never shown models smoking in her pictures as she knows it probably had a profound effect on many young women.

“The book is dedicated to my husband, who quit smoking seven months ago. When he decided to stop smoking, I said, ‘My God, it’s too bad I didn’t try to help him to stop before.’ Now I decide I will never use a cigarette again in any shoot,” she explains.

“When you’re doing fashion pictures, you’re talking to lots of figures; some are very young, and they’re like sponges. So if your girl is smoking a cigarette, they can say, ‘Oh, my God, it’s smart to smoke a cigarette, it’s good for the look, so I’m going to have one, too.’ And it’s totally stupid.”

Source: Entertainment.ie – 01 September 2011
Link: http://bit.ly/qvFMuC

Health experts have accused the government of spending more on subsidising American films that contain smoking scenes than on anti-tobacco campaigns.

Researchers at Imperial College London calculated that between 2003 and 2009, £338 of tax credits in Britain went to the US-produced films with imagery “promoting” tobacco use.

Foreign film-makers receive 16% tax relief against their British production costs if more than a quarter of their budget is spent in Britain. More then three-quarters of British film subsidies go to US production companies.

Source: The Guardian – 27 August 2011
Link: http://bit.ly/oyhYHH

TV chef and publican Antony Worrall Thompson, who runs The Greyhound pub at Rotherfield Peppard near Henley-on-Thames and is patron of the smokers’ group Forest, has launched an e-petition calling on the government to review the smoking ban.

Simon Clark, director of Forest and the Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign said: “Give landlords and customers a choice. We want the smoking ban amended so licensees can choose to provide a separate, well-ventilated smoking room for adults who wish to smoke.”

Source: BMJ – 24 August 2011
Link: http://bit.ly/nQ2Xsw

Around 100 young people aged 14 to18 came together at a celebrity-packed youth campaign weekend – Smoke & Mirrors – to expose the negative practices of the tobacco industry.

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In March 2010 young people got together to learn about and discuss negative practices of the tobacco industry.

Following on from our Campaign weekend in October 2009, this was an opportunity for young people to get together tell us what they’d achieved since we last met and also to design the next stage of the Smoke & Mirrors Campaign.

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This years BAT AGM has taken place and representatives from Smoke & Mirrors alongside other youth groups and ASH made the most of the opportunity to have their voices heard.

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