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MTV and truth® Team Up To Challenge Big Tobacco
10/30/2008
Fans of Reality Show “Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Island” To See
truth®-Related Contests Illustrating the Dangers of Smoking During Breaks in the Action
Washington, DC, October 30, 2008 – truth®, the nation’s largest youth smoking prevention campaign, will be featured prominently during a popular MTV reality show competition. The latest incarnation of the competition, called Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Island, has 20 former contestants from the MTV programs “The Real World” and “Road Rules” fighting for their own survival, and a share of a $300,000 “buried treasure” on an island off the coast of Panama. Throughout the life of the show, a series of challenges will decide who gets a key to the chest that holds the prizes.
truth® and MTV have created a tongue-in-cheek spin-off of The Island, called The Blaze, which will be seen during weekly episodes of the show. The Blaze pits fictional contestants against one another in challenges that mirror those on The Island, but that illustrate the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry and the dangers of tobacco use. Using satire and dark humor, the challenges on The Blaze vividly illustrate the seriousness of the tobacco issue, as most of the contestants wind up injured, maimed, or even eaten by “sea monsters.”
“MTV continues to influence popular culture with edgy programs that reach the truth® teen audience,” remarked Eric Asche, Senior Vice President of Marketing at the American Legacy Foundation®, the national public health foundation which directs and funds the truth® campaign. “They are a valued partner whose support allows us to extend our life-saving message. The Blaze integration is a natural fit since tobacco use continues to be a serious health threat to American youth. On a show where young people are fighting for survival, these challenges bring home the reality that tobacco use kills 1200 people every day.”
There will be four, 60-second promotional spots – “challenges” - built around tobacco facts.
- Boulder Push requires two contestants to push against a huge boulder in opposite directions in order to move the boulder into their corner. When the contestants balk that the task can’t be done, the host reassures them that it is only a “light boulder” and the camera shows it labeled as such. After one of the contestants is crushed with the boulder, the voiceover explains that “Big Tobacco labels cigarettes as light and ultra-light even though they can be as deadly and addictive as regular cigarettes.”
- Chemical Pass challenges two contestants to fill a cup on one end of a course with a variety of chemicals from bottles placed on a table at the other end of the course. The catch is that the contestants can only use their “own body, and the clothes [they] have on.” After they attempt to transport formaldehyde in their mouths, or try to grab caustic formic acid with their hands, or splash radioactive polonium 210 in their eyes, the contestants can’t complete the task and lay on the ground writhing in pain. The voiceover explains that “of course this wouldn’t happen from smoking, but these [chemicals] and more than 4,000 other chemicals, can be found in cigarettes or cigarette smoke.”
- In Name Change one contestant is challenged to take on the “Flight of Death”, by climbing 50 feet up a platform and attempting to jump for a gold ring 10 feet away -- with no net beneath him. After he misses and his broken legs are tended to by the paramedics, the host tells another contestant that his “challenge is totally different. It’s called Leap of Fun.” In fact, the challenge is exactly the same and has the same results. The voiceover reveals that “In 2001, a Big Tobacco executive said changing the name of their company could, quote, ‘focus attention away from tobacco.’”
- In Mystery Pool two contestants are asked to swim to the bottom of a pond and collect as many gold coins as they can in 30 seconds. The pond is black and oozing and contains what appears to be a sea monster, judging by the tentacle sliding through it. The host explains that he is “not legally obligated” to tell them what is in the pool. After the contestants jump in and are given their 30 seconds of collection time, the host calls them back, only to be answered with a burp from the “pond monster”. The voiceover says that “Products like chips and cereal list ingredients on their labels, but cigarettes, a product that kills a third of its users, doesn’t.”
All of the challenges end with a voiceover commenting that “The real challenge is how Big Tobacco gets away with this stuff.”
“We applaud MTV for taking such a visible position on the dangers of youth smoking. As a leader in driving youth culture, MTV has been and will continue to be a powerful force in helping to reduce the number of youth who start to smoke. Unfortunately, youth smoking reduction in the US has leveled off in recent years, and, without the continued efforts of truth® and our partners, could start to increase again,” said Dr. Cheryl Healton, President and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation.
“Working with our partners at the American Legacy Foundation, we were able to communicate an important message in a fun and engaging way that is totally contextual with MTV's content,” added Tim Rosta, Senior Vice President, MTV Integrated Marketing.
MTV has long been a supporter and partner of the truth® campaign. Since the campaign’s inception in 2000, truth®’s edgy, iconic advertisements have been an established fixture on the channel, and MTV has provided additional opportunities to extend truth® advertising through broadcast, online and outdoor advertising opportunities. In addition, crew members – young people in their 20s – from the summer truth® grassroots tour have been interviewed on the MTV program “Total Request Live.” In early 2008, cartoon characters from the “Sunny Side of truth®” advertising campaign frequently popped up on-screen during episodes of The Real World XX: Hollywood to humorously comment on what was happening and to share information about tobacco and the marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.
truth® and MTV also created a promotional teaser to tie-in to the shows. The Blaze will air Wednesdays in October, and will be co-branded with both MTV and truth® logos.
BACKGROUND ON THE truth® CAMPAIGN
truth®, launched in February 2000, is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign and the only national campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. truth®, allows teens to make informed choices about tobacco use by giving them the facts about the industry and its products. The campaign was created by the American Legacy Foundation, which was founded as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the tobacco industry, 46 states and five U.S. territories. Payments to the American Legacy Foundation are made on behalf of the settling states.
In February 2005 the American Legacy Foundation released the results of an evaluation of the national truth® campaign that was published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study found that 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking during the first two years of the campaign (2000-2002) is directly attributable to truth®. This equates to 300,000 fewer youth smokers in 2002 as a result of the campaign.
The American Legacy Foundation, which provides strategic direction and funding for the truth® campaign, received in 2003 what is likely its final payment to the National Public Education Fund established by the MSA. Despite its success, the truth® campaign now faces an unprecedented funding challenge.