Youth Tobacco Prevention In East Texas.

Each year, thousands of Hispanic adolescents begin what will likely become a lifetime of harmful tobacco use. Research shows that children between 9 and 13 years of age are most influenced by advertising, their friends and their parents. By ninth grade, Hispanic children have usually decided that smoking is either desirable or undesirable.

Creative Civilization, based in San Antonio, recently unveiled a new Spanish language TV spot for the Texas Department of Health’s tobacco prevention campaign targeting Hispanic youth in East Texas.

Under the slogan “El Tabaco…¡Que Gacho!” (“Tobacco is Foul”), the :30 television spot features Hispanic middle and high school students talking about the downsides of tobacco use. Using candid language, many of the students openly reference tobacco use to bad breath, damaged lungs, cancer and death. To create the hip and fast-paced TV spot, the agency interviewed and pre-screened hundreds of East Texas students to select the top six messages.

Under the direction of Senior Art Director Martha Martinez, the agency team included Senior Account Executive Nelda C. Skevington and Assistant Account Executives Lena Garcia and Francisco J. Castillo. The spot begins airing in March.

The focus of the state’s “Tobacco is Foul” program is to reach 9 to 13 year-old Hispanic adolescents (also called ‘tweens’) and to dispel existing tobacco myths. “Our program was actually developed by youth and for youth,” says Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., Texas Commissioner of Health. “We want to inform tweens that tobacco use is not a relaxing pastime and that the majority of kids don’t think smoking is cool. In actuality, tobacco is a dangerous drug that can lead to a powerful addiction easily compared to heroin or cocaine.”

Sanchez says Houston and the surrounding cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur were selected for the project due to their ethnic diversities and high rates of tobacco-related diseases.

According to Gisela Girard, President and Chief Operating Officer at Creative Civilization, the kids in the Spanish TV spot were chosen from more than five hundred students involved in the tobacco prevention program in the East Texas pilot area. “To further enhance the campaign messages, a strong public relations effort was implemented with Spanish-speaking spokespersons and participation in Hispanic cultural events, such as Cinco de Mayo, lowrider shows and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.”

Another aspect of the campaign includes English TV and radio announcements featuring the smooth-talking DUCK (voice of Tony Rock, a stand-up comic and brother of comedian Chris Rock). The Hispanic advertising campaign will continue through August.