The NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City utilizes various forms of media to educate and advocate for the expansion of smoke-free outdoor spaces, the availability of smoke-free housing, a reduction in tobacco retailers and tobacco marketing, and an increase in the price of tobacco products in New York City. Below you can learn more about the NYC Coalition's recent paid media campaigns along with earned local media coverage and the NYC Coalition's top tobacco news stories.
Media Campaigns
The NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City, in partnership with the NY State Tobacco Control Program, has launched a number of successful media campaigns to support our outdoor air and point-of-sale policy areas. Our ads appeared on telephone kiosks, bus shelters, and ferries throughout the city. Please be on the look-out in March 2011 for our latest campaign targeting tobacco in the retail environment
Video: Unsweetened Truth
2011 Campaign
"Tobacco Marketing Works" Airms to educate New Yorkers about the impact of point-of-sale tobacco marketing on youth.
2010 Campaigns
“What’s in Store for our Kids?” Aims to educate New Yorkers about the prevalence and impact that tobacco products and point-of-sale marketing efforts have on youth smoking initiation.
“She Saw Cigarette Butts by The SeaShore” Aims to educate New Yorkers about the benefits of tobacco free outdoor parks and beaches. The campaign raises awareness of the environmental impact of tobacco litter, dangers of secondhand smoke and influence on children when tobacco use is not restricted.
NYC Coalition in the News
NYC Coalition activities and our primary policy areas have generated a lot of media buzz. Please see below for press received in our citywide media outlets.
Archstone Apartments recently reached out to the Coalition to let us know that they are offering newly renovated SMOKE-FREE living in the city! Since the Coalition is really ramping up our Voluntary Smoke-Free Housing campaign we thought it would be a great idea to spotlight them on our website. NYC is a city of multi-unit dwellings, which means we all live very close to one another.
The NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City is gearing up for Legislative Day 2012 on January 24th in Albany. We will be joined by community partners from New York City along with fellow advocates throughout New York State to educate legislators on the importance and necessity of NY’s Tobacco Control Program.
Addiction Incorporated is a compelling documentary about a young drug researcher hired by a tobacco company and unexpectedly discovers the ingredients of addiction and ignites a national campaign to have it regulated.
From 1980-1984, Victor DeNoble was a research scientist at a major tobacco company, where he dedicated most of his time finding a suitable substitute for nicotine that were not heart attack inducers. He found a substitute, and during the process, he proved that cigarettes were addictive; something that the tobacco industry denied for years.
Thanks to a tax loophole in smoking policies, cigarette addicts can roll their own carton worth of cigarettes for under $40 at cigarette shops in New York and several other states.
In New York City where taxes alone come up to $5.85 per pack, it is the most expensive place to smoke in the United States and many smokers take advantage of this loophole.
Take a Walk In Our Shoes Tobacco Advertising Tour successfully completed its four-day run through all five boroughs educating New Yorkers about the way the tobacco industry targets their deadly products to our youth at local grocery stores, bodegas, gas stations and other retail outlets. Local elected officials, youth leaders and community groups toured New York City’s neighborhoods to observe the many storefronts that display tobacco advertising that endangers our youth.
Children who live with smokers miss more school due to illness than those who live in households with non-smokers, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fewer adults in the United States are smoking cigarettes and daily users are now smoking less each day.
The CDC report covers data from 2005 to 2010 and shows that in 2010, 19.3 percent of adults in the U.S., aged 18 or older, continued to smoke, a slight decline from 20.9 percent in 2005. In addition, percentage of heavy smokers who light up 30 or more cigarettes per day fell from 12.7 percent to 8.3 percent during the same period.
The number of New Yorkers who smoke has dropped to 14 percent, down from 22 percent in 2002.
There are 450,000 fewer adult smokers in New York City than there were nine years ago, says Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday who credited the city’s tough anti-cigarette policies.
Smoking by teens has also dropped to 7, down from 18 percent in 2001.
Bloomberg said the drop in smoking will prevent 50,000 premature deaths by the year 2052.
The number of New Yorkers who smoke has dropped to 14 percent, down from 22 percent in 2002.
There are 450,000 fewer adult smokers in New York City than there were nine years ago, says Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday who credited the city’s tough anti-cigarette policies.
Smoking by teens has also dropped to 7, down from 18 percent in 2001.
Bloomberg said the drop in smoking will prevent 50,000 premature deaths by the year 2052.
Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that will make all outdoor ticketing, boarding and platform areas of MTA-operated railroad stations smoke-free. The bill, S.3461-c / A.5516-c, was sponsored by Senator Charles Fuschillo and Assembly-member Ellen Jaffee and passed both houses of the Legislature in June.
The NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City has just released a Request for Proposals (RFP) focused on reducing the accessibility and visibility of tobacco products, increasing smoke-free outdoor spaces, and increasing smoke-free housing in NYC. Applications due September 15th at 3:00pm. Download the RFP here!
Bad news for female smokers. The world’s leading general medical journal, The Lancet, revealed that female smokers have a higher risk of getting heart disease than male smokers. An analysis of 86 studies from around the world, involving more than two million people, shows the risk is 25 percent higher for females. What’s troubling to many researchers is that women less than men, raising the question, “why are they at such a greater risk for heart disease?”
Most Americans are speaking up in support of smoke-free public spaces. In a recent national telephone poll survey by Gallup, a New Jersey-based pollster, 59 percent of respondents supported a public ban on smoking. The result of the 2011 poll were based on a random sample of 1,016 people aged 18 and older from all 50 U.S. states and Washington DC.
The United States Food and Drug Administration’s(FDA) new health warnings make a bold statement. Earlier this year, the FDA unveiled 36 proposed labels to modify the required cigarette packaging and advertising warning labels to include new textual statements with color graphics depicting the negative health effects of smoking. This July, the FDA narrowed it down to nine health warning labels. The new warnings are particularly important among youth, who are twice as likely as adults to remember tobacco advertising.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed legislation making all NYC parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas smoke-free. The legislation, which will also cover NYC marinas and boardwalks, will take effect May 23, 2011. With tremendous public support for this new legislation, the new law will be largely self-enforced. However, Parks Department officials will be authorized to enforce the law and issue fines of $50 per violation.
The U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin recently released a report titled How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease. The report shows that even brief exposure to tobacco smoke – including through secondhand smoke or occasional smoking – causes immediate cellular damage and tissue inflammation that can lead to serious illness or even death.
The FDA unveiled 36 proposed labels to modify the required cigarette packaging and advertising warning labels to include new textual statements with color graphics depicting the negative health effects of smoking.
The new labels are part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009), which requires cigarette packaging and advertising to have larger and more graphic and visible health warnings.
On Wednesday, July 29, 2009, the New York City Council unanimously voted in favor of a bill that will ban smoking on hospital grounds as well as within 15 feet of hospital entrances and exists. This piece of legislation was introduced by City Council Majority Whip Inez E. Dickens and not only applies to general hospitals, but also to health treatment centers and residential health facilities.
On July 29th, 2009, the NYC Coalition For A Smoke Free City hosted a Star Brunch to celebrate the last five years of hard work and success. Dedicated community leaders were recognized at the event including Council Member Inez E. Dickens who was honored for spearheading a smoke free hospital campus bill in New York City. Also honored at the event were retailers who signed policies over the last year committing to reduce, remove, and/or rearrange tobacco advertisements in their stores.
