Author tells teens about tobacco companies' tactics

By Gail Ellison

Commentator/Courier

If hearing about the effects of smoking on their health doesn't deter teenagers from puffing away, Georgina Lovell says she has information that gets kids to look at it from another angle.

Vancouver-based Lovell has published a book titled You Are the Target - Big Tobacco: Lies, Scams - Now the Truth. She will be in southeastern Alberta later this month to speak in several schools about her research into how tobacco companies target teens.

A former journalist, Lovell spent four years researching her book.

"They (tobacco companies) require 1,000s of new smokers every day," she said Friday in a telephone interview from Vancouver.

Lovell said in general, nine out of 10 smokers started before they were 18 years old. Tobacco companies, she charges, make use of this figure in promoting their product.

"They've studied youth behaviour."

She cites a study done in the mid-90s by RJR in San Francisco.

"It's called Project Scum. It targets Generation X, the 14-to-19-year-olds. The documents are publicly available."

Lovell has already made presentations to 25,000 students across Canada and the United States. She said the reaction has been positive.

"What I hear most from kids is "I just didn't know. Thank you for telling me." They want to know more."

She said teens already have the groundwork about the health consequences of smoking but are often shocked to hear about the tactics used by the tobacco companies to create customers.

Some of those tactics include paying actor Sylvester Stallone $500,000 to smoke in five movies. Tobacco companies negotiate with Hollywood for product placement in movies aimed at younger people, such as the Muppets and Superman.

"They call it normalizing. I believe it's a form of subliminal advertising."

She also said she understands somewhat why the health issues fail to have an impact on some teens.

"I speak from experience. I make it very clear I used to be a smoker. I was young and thought I could never get lung cancer. I quit when I wanted to start a family," Lovell said.

She started researching tobacco companies when her mother was diagnosed with emphysema and her father died from lung cancer.

"When I first started reading, I thought, I'm fairly well-read and I didn't know most of these things. I started out of curiosity, then I got angry."

Lovell said she doesn't point fingers or blame people who do smoke.

"I have nothing against smokers. If someone is smoking they're doing exactly what the tobacco companies planned. Each new smoker is worth $100,000 to the industry."

Starting Sept. 23, Lovell will make presentations in Medicine Hat and Oyen. She will be at Parkside Junior High School in Redcliff at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25 and at Eagle Butte High School in Dunmore at 2:30 p.m. On Friday, Sept. 26 she will be at Senator Gershaw School in Bow Island at 9 a.m. where she will do a presentation to students from both Gershaw and St. Michael's School before heading to Brooks.

"My mandate is to raise awareness of what the tobacco industry is like. Whatever they say, they're not to be trusted," Lovell said.

She has set up a Web site at www.you-are-the-target.com where documents originating from tobacco companies are posted. Lovell explained the documents are publicly available due to a ruling in the 90s when a judge in Minnesota ruled the client-lawyer privilege was not in effect if there was evidence of a felony such as fraud or gross misconduct.