truth^sm Fact Sheet

- The truth^sm campaign is the largest youth-focused anti-tobacco education campaign ever. It is designed to engage teens by exposing Big TobaccoÕs marketing and manufacturing practices, as well as highlighting the toll of tobacco in relevant and innovative ways.

- truth^sm provides honest facts and information about tobacco products and the tobacco industry and gives teens tools that enable them to take control and make informed decisions about tobacco use.

- About 80 percent of smokers begin using tobacco before the age of 18; the primary focus of the truth^sm campaign is youth aged 12 to 17 years old.

- The objective of truth^sm is to change social norms and reduce youth smoking.

Strategy of the truth^sm campaign

- Tobacco use provides some teens with an outlet to express themselves; truth^sm provides an alternative. Teenage years are a time of transition into adulthood and a quest for control. For some teens, tobacco use can fulfill some of the innate adolescent needs; truth^sm is an alternative way to meet those needs.

- As a brand, truth^sm serves to directly counter messages from the tobacco company brands who spend over $8 billion a year marketing their product. truth^sm can never match that spending, so instead stays ahead by being more breakthrough and cutting-edge.

- The truth^sm campaign uses evidence-based research, research with teen audiences, marketing and social science research, and evidence from the most successful anti-tobacco campaigns to inform its strategies.

- The "Monitoring the Future" study, released in December 2001, reported dramatic declines in smoking rates among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders and cited the truth^sm campaign as one of the reasons for this public health victory. The study was sponsored by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and conducted by the University of Michigan.

truth^sm advertising and more

- truth^sm ads are in-your-face and hard-hitting because teens respond to up-front and powerful messages that display courage and honesty in a forceful way.

- truth^sm advertising reaches a broad audience with multi-cultural messages. In addition, advertising and promotions are developed for specific ethnic groups to create stronger connections with these segments and to counteract the ethnic targeting of the tobacco industry.

- The truth^sm campaign is everywhere in youth media on television networks popular with teens like MTV, FOX and WB, and magazines like Vibe and Seventeen. truth^sm also has a prominent presence on the Internet with its highly interactive and relevant-to-teens website, www.thetruth.com, that allows teens to engage with the truth on their own terms.

- truth^sm advertising is developed and produced by an alliance of agencies led by Arnold Worldwide in Boston in collaboration with Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in Miami.

- truth^sm aims to be relevant with teens and have an impact. Teens are involved in testing all truth^sm advertising concepts and provide suggestions and feedback through the truth^sm website.

- truth^sm is funded by the American Legacy Foundation, which was created by the 1998 settlement between the tobacco industry and 46 states. To date, Legacy has allocated approximately $100 million per year to truth^sm. truth^sm is one of many Legacy initiatives that advance collaborative, innovative, evidence-based solutions to undo the harm from tobacco use in America.

www.thetruth.com.