News
Hartington Teen Puts Out Tobacco Myths
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan
HARTINGTON, Neb. — Addison Peitz went to New York City, but she didn’t play tourist.
Instead, she protested.
The Hartington Public High School student, along with dozens of teens from across the country, recently demonstrated outside a tobacco company’s shareholder meeting. The teens were protesting the worldwide increase of death and disease brought on by the company’s products.
While only 15 years old, Peitz already sees tobacco’s harm on her friends.
“I have no interest in smoking, but a lot of kids in Hartington use tobacco,” she said, “They smoke cigarettes and use smokeless tobacco.”
Peitz is no stranger to activism. She has participated for two years in the local chapter of No Limits, Nebraska’s first youth-led tobacco prevention movement.
“For one project, we put up ‘6’s’ all over school. Everyone was asking what it meant,” she said. “We finally told everyone that the 6 represents that one person dies every six seconds (worldwide) from tobacco use.”
Besides local projects, she has participated in “Kick Butts Day” where Nebraska teens protest outside the capitol building in Lincoln.
When she learned of the NYC demonstration, Peitz focused her activism on the very people financially supporting the tobacco industry. She applied for a spot with the group headed for NYC, writing an essay on her goals if she was chosen and the extent of her involvement in the No Limits organization.
She was selected for the Nebraska delegation, joining fellow teen activists Madison Larimore of Bellevue and Claudia Millan of Schuyler, along with other No Limits members.
“I was surprised that I was chosen, because of my age and because I didn’t know how many were going,” Peitz said.
Peitz spent three days in New York City: traveling the first day, taking part in training the second day and participating in the demonstration on the third day.
The goal was to raise awareness of the tobacco company’s increased marketing emphasis on developing countries, said No Limits project coordinator Jessi Huenink. A worldwide increase of death and disease has resulted from the promotion and sale of its products to youth around the world.
“In the United States alone, the tobacco industry spends $1 million every minute marketing its products,” Huenink said. “Madison, Claudia and Addison have been fighting tobacco’s influence in Nebraska — and we’re excited to have them on our team to take this fight to the national and international level. It will take action and hard work to reverse the global tobacco crisis, but we’re ready to fight.”
Peitz was among 52 youth assembled outside the Grand Hyatt-New York hotel to greet shareholders as they entered and exited the meeting.
Many of the youth carried signs emblazoned with the demonstration’s theme “We’ve Seen Enough” and messages about the tobacco company’s global marketing strategy. Larimore and Millan continued their demonstration inside the hotel.
The meeting was held at a downtown business center next to Grand Central Station, Peitz said.
“We were there (on the street) at 8 a.m., and we stayed there for five hours,” she said. “We chanted and tried to talk to the shareholders as they walked in (the building). They were looking at us like, ‘What are these kids doing?’ But it was really important that we talk to them, because investors don’t always pay attention to what they are investing their money into.”
The protesters were allowed to demonstrate but were given space limitations, Peitz said.
“We had a little spot where we had to stay during the demonstration,” she said. “We had a cop assigned to watch us, which was scary.”
The young protesters also drew a wide range of reactions from passersby on the street.
“Some people supported us and understood what we were doing. Other people ignored us because they didn’t think what we were doing was important,” she said. “When people passed us by, we would shake it off and talk to the next person.”
Some of the protesters went inside and attended the meeting, seeking to make their point where possible, Peitz said. She remained outside, engaging passersby and handing out information.
“We pointed out key facts to each person,” she said. “We showed how, on TV and commercials, (tobacco companies) choose young people and make (tobacco use) look fun. They don’t mention the side effects in their advertisements.”
Peitz also sought to show the life-and-death impact of tobacco use.
“I was just giving the straight facts to people,” she said. “I showed how many people die in this country from tobacco. We wanted to open people’s eyes about tobacco.”
Read the rest of this article at: http://www.yankton.net/community/article_55131fd0-c422-11e2-8b4b-0019bb2963f4.html
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