By Pamela Wong
The City of Ottawa’s newest approach to encourage high school students to butt out is innovative, but not all youth have bought into the idea.
“Expose is run by youth for youth,” says Mitri Hanna, one of the program’s three youth workers hired by the city. “Our approach is simple. We show students how the industry makes smoking look cool and make them feel like they’ll only be accepted if they smoke. We’re bringing the facts to the students.”
Launched in 2002, Expose is the first student-led anti-smoking campaign in Canada. The three-year project reveals the marketing tactics used by the tobacco industry to target youth, through peer-led activities, with guest speakers, films, posters, and more.
A major component of the campaign is the annual mass media contest in May in which students can submit their own anti-smoking ads.
The work of last year’s winner — a drawing of a girl chained from several directions to cigarettes — can be seen in many city buses.
Exposé is based on a successful American youth anti-smoking campaign that uses a similar approach.
A recent city survey revealed that one in five high school students in Ottawa smoke.
“That number is too high,” says public health nurse Claudelle Crowe, who co-ordinates the program at four high schools including Lisgar Collegiate. “We’re seeing much higher numbers with Grade 11 and 12 students. We want to change the mentality that smoking is normal,” she says.
Lisgar is in the second wave of schools involved with the campaign this year. The school’s student representative Mara Rothschild, a Grade 11 student, has been working hard to spark interest for Expose among classmates, but says it has been a slow start.
“Anti-smoking ads are a waste of money,” says Hillary Smith, a Grade 11 student at Lisgar. “They might convince people not to start, but they’re not effective in getting people to stop.”
Colin Best, another grade 11 student, agrees.
“It’ll take more than a poster to make me stop,” he says. “I try not to look at those (graphic) ads. The only thing that would make me quit is if the prices of cigarettes went up,” says Best, who has been smoking for a year and a half.
“If I get the facts — like if I smoke for a certain amount of time, then I’ll definitely get cancer — that would be more effective,” says Brad Langdon.
Crowe says these are common responses from students. “They think nothing will happen to them. It doesn’t hit close to home for many of them.”
“That’s why Expose doesn’t just concentrate on the health effects of smoking because students already know it,” says Crowe.
Rothschild remains hopeful at the success of Expose at Lisgar.
“We’re very dedicated to it. We can really do some good things if more people join,” she says.
She says she also believes this peer-to-peer approach is effective. “Adults don’t have to be in the school scene with the peer pressures. It’s an advantage to know what’s going on, where students are coming from.”
“Research reveals it’s much more effective to have a peer-to-peer approach. What I say to students doesn’t have an impact,” adds Crowe.
Students who want to quit smoking will have an extra incentive in March when they have a chance to win an mp3 player and a $500 gift certificate from Rideau Centre as part of the city’s stop smoking contest.
Crowe says the city will be doing another survey on smoking habits among students next year — in the campaign’s final year. But she says it often takes that long before changes start to appear and hopes the city will extend funding of the campaign beyond three years.