New Mexico Media Literacy Project | nmmlp.org

Yes, there were limos, and a red carpet, and insistent papparazzi. But Johnny Depp, Kate Hudson and King Kong would probably rather not have received the awards given them recently by New Mexico youth. Depp, Hudson and the blockbuster movie about an oversized ape were given “Shamie Awards” for promoting youth smoking. Watch clips of the winners here
The Shamie Award	On April 5, 2006, more than 200 New Mexico teens celebrated Kick Butts Day – an annual youth tobacco prevention event -- by attending the second annual Fame & Shame Awards at Albuquerque Academy. Co-sponsored by NMMLP and New Mexico Voices for Children, the gala awards ceremony honored 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.
This year’s winners of the “Youth Kicking Tobacco’s Butt Advocate of the Year Award” were high school students Cozette Brown of Clayton, Jaime Mejia of Socorro and Taylor Kingston of Albuquerque, and middle school students Selena Almanza of Hatch, Aubrianna Chavez of Albuquerque and Rosa Arevalo of Socorro. The ceremony also handed out “Shamie Awards” to actors, actresses, directors and producers who glamorize smoking in Hollywood movies. “King Kong” won the award for Oscar-Nominated Film That Glamorizes Smoking Most; even though the lead ape doesn’t smoke, many other characters in the PG-13 film do. Johnny Depp and Kate Hudson were given Decade Smoker awards for their longstanding portrayals of smoking on the silver screen. “Be Cool” was named Most Popular Teen Movie That Glamorizes Smoking, and its star, John Travolta, walked away with the “honors” as Actor Who Glamorizes Smoking Most. Kellita Smith was named Actress Who Glamorizes Smoking Most for her performance in “King's Ransom”. Watch clips of the winners here
Before leaving, audience members signed postcards addressed to Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, asking him to get smoking out of youth rated (G, PG and PG-13) movies by assigning an automatic R-rating to new movies with smoking. Throughout the evening, New Mexico youth portrayed the Hollywood stars, delivering tongue-in-cheek acceptance speeches to a chorus of boos from the audience. Movie clips showed the winners puffing away on-screen, illustrating how Hollywood movies model and promote smoking to young viewers. New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid was also recognized for her efforts to press the entertainment industry to deglamorize smoking in the movies.
The Fame & Shame Awards ceremony is 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. NMMLP delivers multimedia presentations and training to youth statewide, and provides free copies of NMMLP’s recent DVD-ROM, Something Stinks in Hollywood!, to youth tobacco prevention advocates. The project is funded by the New Mexico Department of Health, Public Health Division, Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program (TUPAC). For more information: 505-858-8897