[Intl-tobacco] Report on 2/19 rally: "U.S.: Get Big Tobacco's Hands Off NYC - Support a
Strong FCTC"
Robert Weissman
rob@essential.org
Tue, 25 Feb 2003 14:27:25 -0500
Dear Friends,
Last Wednesday, New York State's youth empowerment program, Reality
Check, and Essential Action sponsored a rally in New York City to expose
how Big Tobacco uses images of NYC to spread tobacco addiction around
the world and to call on the U.S. delegation to the FCTC to support a
comprehensive tobacco advertising ban. To view a shocking collection of
international tobacco ads and brands that use and abuse NYC go to:
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc/
Please find a report on the event below.
**************************************************************
U.S.: GET BIG TOBACCO'S HANDS OFF NYC - SUPPORT A STRONG FCTC!
Rally in New York City - February 19, 2003
Sponsored by: Reality Check, Essential Action
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/rc01.jpg
**************************************************************
EVENT ENDORSED BY:
* American Lung Association of the City of New York
* New York's Asian American and Pacific Islander Tobacco Control Network
* NYC Coalition For A Smoke Free City
* New York Public Interest Research Group
* SmokeFree Educational Services, Inc.
* South Bronx Concerned Citizens Against Tobacco
* Tobacco Not Tolerated
Despite snow and associated transportation woes, the police kicking us
out of City Hall Park even though we had a permit, the Concorde jet
landing prematurely in Canada (which diverted some international media
away from our event), and the police stopping and searching a Reality
Check coordinator's car because the sound system it was transporting
supposedly resembled a large explosive device -- Reality Check teens
managed to pull off a great event, educate hundreds of New Yorkers about
the issue, and garner local & international media coverage.
Reality Check teens kicked off the event, which was held on a busy
sidewalk next to City Hall Park (just west of the Brooklyn Bridge), with
some loud and spirited chants, e.g. "Hey Hey Ho Ho, NYC tobacco ads have
got to go!" and "George Bush, You Should Know, Not to Work for Big
Tobacco!" Read more chants at:
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/event/nyc0302/chants.html
SPEAKERS EMPHASIZE GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
Speakers at the rally expressed outrage at Big Tobacco's use of NYC to
promote death around the world, and they called on the U.S. to reign in
Big Tobacco's global expansion by supporting a comprehensive advertising
ban in the FCTC -- a measure that the U.S. currently opposes. If
millions of dollars in tobacco money prevents the U.S. from doing so,
they said the U.S. should step aside and give poor countries the
opportunity to protect their citizens from predatory transnational
tobacco companies.
In January, Essential Action and Reality Check surveyed GPTC
participants around the world to better understand the
psychological reasons behind Big Tobacco's use of U.S./NYC
imagery abroad. We found that people around the world
associate the U.S. with Freedom, Democracy, Wealth,
Opportunity, Development, and Power. New York City is the
city respondents most associate with the U.S. Read more!
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/event/nyc0302/poll.html
Read statement by Kristin Riegel (Reality Check) on Big
Tobacco's use of New York City imagery abroad
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/event/nyc0302/kristinriegel.html
Photo:
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/r16.jpg
Speakers emphasized the irony of the Big Tobacco featuring NYC in
tobacco ads, when NYC is an international leader in tobacco control (NYC
is soon to become one of the largest smoke-free cities in the U.S.).
They also drew attention to NYC being a microcosm of the world. Over 40%
of NYC residents are foreign born. Exposure to tobacco advertising in
countries of origin affect smoking rates in NYC. Indeed, the line
between local and global public health is hard to define in NYC.
View photo of Peter Sarrano, Executive Director of South Bronx
Concerned Citizens Against Tobacco, speaking at the rally
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/016.JPG
The World Health Organization projects that tobacco will kill over 10
million people annually by 2030. Speakers noted, soberly, that this is
the equivalent of 95 jet planes crashing each and every day, every day
of the year. New York City has a visceral understanding of what such
numbers represent. It wants to help halt, not be used to aid and abet,
this global genocide. New York City tobacco control groups join in
solidarity with tobacco control groups worldwide in calling for a strong
FCTC.
Genesis Castro (Reality Check) reads statements from GPTC
participants around the world
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/event/nyc0302/genesiscastro.html
Full list of statements:
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/event/nyc0302/USdelegation.html
Photo:
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/rc14.jpg
At the rally, a statement of solidarity from the San Francisco Tobacco
Free Coalition was also read. It highlights Big Tobacco's similar
misuse of California names, icons, and imagery to sell death around the
world. Read the statement:
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/event/nyc0302/california.html
TEENS HAND OUT PALM CARDS TO PEDESTRIANS
Reality Check teens brought 1,000 palmcards with a tobacco ad featuring
the skyline of NYC and the message "Get New York City Out of Tobacco
Ads! Support a Strong FCTC Now!" on one side and "Big Tobacco - Stop
Using NY to Sell Death... Did you know that the tobacco industry uses
ads like this one featuring New York City to sell their deadly products
to the world. Tell them this must stop!!! Tell our U.S. Delegation to
support a comprehensive advertising ban as part of the Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control" on the other. While the rally took place,
teens passed the flyers out to hundreds of pedestrians.
A TOUR OF NYC LANDMARKS...
After the rally, Reality Check teens climbed up the Brooklyn Bridge to
take photos of tobacco ads featuring the Bridge and NYC skyline -- with
these popular images in the background. Later, teens visited NYC's
Chinatown and Times Square to take similar photos. To view these
photos, as well as photos of the rally, click on the links below!
PHOTOS OF RALLY & NYC TOUR
Reality Check teens with banner "U.S.: GET BIG TOBACCO'S HANDS OFF
NYC... SUPPORT A STRONG FCTC NOW" at rally site
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/037.JPG
Reality Check teen with sign "NYC = Smoke Free Air...Not Tobacco
Addiction" (with tobacco ad for "Manhattan" brand, from Peru)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/049.JPG
Reality Check coordinator with sign "U.S.: Stop Big Tobacco's Abuse of
NYC Abroad...Support a Strong FCTC" (with tobacco ad featuring Broadway
and "New York" brand, from Germany)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/030.JPG
Reality Check teen with sign "U.S.: Get Big Tobacco's Hands Off
NYC...Support a Strong FCTC" (with tobacco ad featuring Times Square)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/032.JPG
Reality Check teen with sign "NYC = SmokeFree Air...Not Tobacco
Addiction (features "Brooklyn" brand, from Spain)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/031.JPG
A reporter from WMBC-TV 63 gets footage of the rally
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/rc15.jpg
By the end of the rally, Reality Check teens are chums with the police
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/005.JPG
Reality Check teens on Brooklyn Bridge with banner and examples of
tobacco advertising from around the world that exploits NYC icons and
imagery.
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/001.JPG
Reality Check teen on Brooklyn Bridge with Philip Morris ad featuring
the Brooklyn Bridge (Czech Republic)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/050.JPG
Reality Check teen with NYC skyline in back and Salem ad featuring a
pack of cigarettes tipping over the NYC skyline (ad from the US)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/051.JPG
It's a circular world: Reality Check teen (a second generation Chinese
American) in NYC's Chinatown, holding a Chinese tobacco ad that features
NYC
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/rc08.jpg
Reality Check teens in Times Square with tobacco ads from around the
world that feature NYC places, including Times Square
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/rc02.jpg
Jessica Harvey, a Reality Check teen, in Times Square, holding a tobacco
ad that features Broadway's Chorus Line (ad from Germany)
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/rc03.jpg
FULL COLLECTION OF PHOTOS AT:
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/photos/nyc0302/
[Note: Feel free to distribute any of these photos. When possible,
please provide proper credit. Photos that begin with "rc" were taken by
Reality Check. All others were taken by Essential Action. Contact
Essential Action if you need higher resolution versions of any of the
photos]
THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING GPTC PARTICIPANTS WHO RESPONDED TO ESSENTIAL
ACTION & REALITY CHECK'S INFORMAL POLL:
Kamel Bereksi (Algeria), Gabriela Regueira (Argentina), Iqbal Masud
(Bangladesh), Ajnija Omanic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Tim Frasca
(Chile), Eva Kralikova (Czech Republic), Thomas Gyimah-Mensah (Ghana),
Alka Kapadia (India), Bobby Ramakant (India), Sekhar Salkar (India),
Muna Hamzeh (Jordan), George Banja (Kenya), S. Oyuntugs (Mongolia), Seun
Akioye (Nigeria), Tariq Parvez (Pakistan), Bobby del Rosario
(Philippines), Rami Mohammed Diabi (Qatar), Stefan Mihaicuta (Romania),
Vladimir Levshin (Russia), Dae-Hyun Kim (South Korea), Jin Sook Choi
(South Korea),Pamodinee Wijayanayake (Sri Lanka), Habiba Ben Romdhane
(Tunisia), Elif Dagli (Turkey), Phillip Karugaba (Uganda), Kelly French
(Ukraine), Laura Roballo (Uruguay), Ricardo Granero (Venezuela),
Andjelka Dzeletovic (Yugoslavia), Muyunda Ililonga (Zambia)
AFTERWORD: DC TAXI DRIVER TELLS HIS STORY
Upon Essential Action's return to DC, we hopped in a cab driven by an
Ethiopian immigrant. The cab driver told us that he's been trying to
quit smoking for over 3 years, to no avail. He began smoking Marlboros
as a youngster because it symbolized the west and "freedom" to him. He
called the feeling he had when smoking almost like a "hallucination", as
if his was momentarily transported to Marlboro Country, to the U.S.
---------------------------------------
Global Partnerships for Tobacco Control
Essential Action
P.O. Box 19405
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: +1 202-387-8030
Fax: +1 202-234-5176
Email: tobacco@essential.org
http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco
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