This program, developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians, is designed to teach children about the
health consequences of smoking cigarettes, then demonstrates how tobacco advertising sells them the exact opposite. Teenagers do not like to be told what to do or how to think, so by focusing on the ways in which tobacco companies
manipulate teenagers into thinking that "smoking is cool" or that smoking promotes an "active lifestyle", our hope is that
they will be angry that they have subliminally been told what to think.


The strength of the program is that the material lets the students draw
their own conclusions without being "preachy".  For example, one
instructor uses a number of cereal mascots to point out that character
recognition is essentially product recognition.  Towards the end of this
section, this image of the Flintstones is shown.


Using the same "recognition" game, the instructor point out that the Flintstones have been used to market items to
children such as:

      Vitamins, Cereal, and (it's true) Cigarettes!








The same instructor then demonstrates "reality in advertising" by giving the models in some of the advertisements a
few of the known health problems associated with long-term cigarette use.














Younger students are also encouraged to participate in a poster contest.  Drawing from the lessons on manipulation
used by tobacco advertisers, the students are asked to come up with an advertisement convincing people not to
smoke.  These posters are judged, and submitted regionally, and then nationally, until a single winner is selected each
year.

Click Here to see what kids are saying about the program


For more information, visit the Tar Wars web site.