For over four years, New Mexico Media Literacy Project has actively participated as part of Stop Tobacco on My People (STOMP) statewide Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQI) Committee.

The LGBTQI community smokes at twice the rate of the straight population and is less likely to access support to quit due to very real fears of being mistreated due to homophobia from individuals and institutions. During the past 4 years, the committee has provided outreach and education to raise awareness in the LGBTQI community that a tobacco-related health disparity exists, has facilitated six New Mexico Last Drag classes-- culturally appropriate tobacco cessation programs, has collected data at various Pride events on tobacco use, behaviors, and attitudes in the LGBTQI community, and has presented our findings at statewide and national conferences. 

This year NMMLP joined STOMP/LGBTQI at the National Tobacco or Health Conference and co-presented two poster sessions. The first was on tobacco prevention for rural LGBTQI communities, and the second focused on palm pilot data collection. NMMLP has also developed a  tobacco prevention media literacy presentation on LGBTQI representations and the marketing of culture to sell addiction.

Yes, there will be limos, and a red carpet, and insistent paparazzi. But Nicolas Cage, Beyoncé and other big Hollywood stars would probably rather not receive the awards New Mexico youth will hand out at the 2008 Fame & Shame Awards.  The most notorious on-screen smokers will receive “Shamie Awards” for promoting youth tobacco use.
On June 6, hundreds of New Mexico teens are expected to attend the 4th annual Fame & Shame Awards at the historic KiMo Theatre in downtown Albuquerque.   Co-sponsored by New Mexico Media Literacy Project and New Mexico Voices for Children, the gala awards ceremony honors middle school and high school students from around the state who work to educate their peers about tobacco use and the tobacco industry’s efforts to recruit young smokers. They’re vying for the “Youth Kicking Tobacco’s Butt Advocate of the Year Award.”
The ceremony also hands out “Shamie Awards” to actors, actresses, directors and producers who glamorize smoking in Hollywood movies.  This year’s nominees include Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and Jamie Foxx as Actor Who Glamorizes Smoking the Most, Beyoncé and Emma Thompson as Actress Who Glamorizes Smoking the Most, and Hairspray, Ocean’s Thirteen and Wild Hogs (shot in New Mexico) as Most Popular Teen Movie That Glamorizes Smoking. 

The Fame & Shame Awards are part of NMMLP’s Smoke Free Movies project, which educates youth and adults about how Hollywood movies have become the most powerful pro-tobacco influence on kids in the world today.  A growing international movement is pressuring Hollywood to eliminate smoking from youth-rated (G, PG and PG-13) films, and NMMLP has spearheaded the effort in New Mexico.  NMMLP delivers multimedia presentations and training to youth statewide, and provides free copies of NMMLP’s DVD-ROM, Something Stinks in Hollywood!, to youth tobacco prevention advocates. The Smoke Free Movies project is funded by the New Mexico Department of Health, Public Health Division, Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program (TUPAC).

Middle school and high school students in Albuquerque, Raton, Rio Rancho, Roswell and Tatum wrote the winning radio scripts and TV storyboards for 30-second ads aimed at preventing tobacco use among young people.

More than 400 New Mexico middle school and high school students entered the contest this year, submitting 289 original scripts and storyboards.

The winners are:

Britnie Bullington and Simone Johnston from Independence High School in Rio Rancho, for their radio script, “Swear To Tell the Truth.”

Ashton Callahan and Spencer Halstead from Jackson Middle School in Albuquerque, for their TV storyboard “The Cult.”

Arlette Chavez and Evelyn Moreno from Mountain View Middle School in Roswell, for their radio script “And Know What?”

Madeline Dick and Kendra Stoll from Jackson Middle School in Albuquerque, for their TV storyboard “Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Smoker.”

Michael Gibson, Anna Sterling & Ashley West from Tatum High School in Tatum, for their TV storyboard “Nip/Puff.”

Maggie Jannakos from Jackson Middle School in Albuquerque, for her TV storyboard “Influence.”

Janae Mallory from the Albuquerque Partnership Youth Coalition in Albuquerque, for her radio script “I Choose.”

The Raton SWAT Team (Arthur Armijo, Amber Encinias, Akhil Govin, Michael Neurauter, Gian Potest, Toni Sproule, Michelle Caruana and Shelby Mares) for their radio script “Leave A Message.”

The writers of each winning script or storyboard will receive a $500 cash prize.

This spring, youth producers at our community partners, KUNM-FM and Community Cable Access Channel 27, will produce radio and TV spots from the winning scripts and storyboards.  The completed spots will premiere at the Fame & Shame Awards at the historic KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque on June 6.  DVDs containing the completed ads will be distributed to schools and tobacco prevention programs around the state in the fall.

The Talk Back to Big Tobacco! Script & Storyboard Contest is sponsored by NMMLP with support from the New Mexico Department of Health’s Tobacco Use Prevention & Control Program (TUPAC). 

For more info, visit www.talkback.nmmlp.org

Snus is one way for tobacco companies to try to make tobacco look appealing.  Since there is a growing number of states in the US that have banned or are planning to ban smoking in public places, it makes sense that tobacco companies would step up their marketing in an effort to expand their niche. Hoping to capitalize on their well-known names, both Marlboro and Camel have entered the market with snus products.  Marlboro Snus is currently being test marketed in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area and Camel Snus is being test marketed in Austin, Texas and Portland, Oregon.

If you would like to learn more about snus and other spit tobacco marketing, New Mexico Media Literacy Project is offering an educational CD named Hard to Swallow: Spit Tobacco Marketing. Updated for 2008, Hard to Swallow contains movie clips, magazine ads, tobacco website images, and graphs with spit tobacco data.  In addition, the Hard to Swallow CD contains discussion guides, two PowerPoint presentations, website information, and other printable resources for you to use in classes or trainings about tobacco education.  This CD is appropriate to use with teens and adults in schools, clubs or community settings.

For folks and organizations that are involved with The Great American Spit-Out (Feb. 21) during Through with Chew Week (Feb. 17-23), this CD would be a great resource to use.  

Thanks to our grant from the New Mexico Department of Health, Public Health Division, Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program (TUPAC), we can offer this CD free of charge to any organization.  If you would like a copy of Hard to Swallow, or know of any organization that might be interested in receiving this CD, please call 505.828.3129 or email lopezje@aa.edu to request a free copy of this resource.